


Jjeut Jjeut (Tsk, Tsk)

by xingnini



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Actually they're both nerds, Alternate Universe - College/University, Attempt at Humor, College, Fluff, Football | Soccer, Hate to Love, Jongin is a nerd, M/M, Romance, Stereotypes against Student Athletes, University, cringeworthy material
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2018-12-19 13:50:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11899077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xingnini/pseuds/xingnini
Summary: The mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell. That’s it. That’s all you need to know.





	Jjeut Jjeut (Tsk, Tsk)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [daisukis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisukis/gifts).



> Hello, dear recipient!! This is my first fic exchange, so I was extremely nervous when I got my assignment kdjkjkdjfkd I am still nervous to no end because I’m not sure if you’ll like the fic I wrote :(( I tried my best, so I hope you enjoy it, even just a little bit! (btw this college au may be different from the norm bc they go to a commuter school)
> 
> Prompt: I take my grades very seriously and you’re the lazy asshole who asks a ton of off-topic questions to distract the professor and I might be a foot shorter than you, but I swear to god I’ll fight you.

Kyungsoo stepped off of the train and onto the subway platform. He didn’t waste any time making his way to the escalator, even though he had about 20 minutes until his first class starts. Having time to spare, he stood on the left side of the escalator where the lazy people could stand still, while the right side had diligent hard-workers who trudged their way to the top.

 

The walk from the station to his college took about ten minutes at a leisurely pace, five if he wanted to make a run for it.

 

Kyungsoo had to commute to Maekjong University every day. It wasn’t _the best_ university Kyungsoo had gotten into, but it was the best _cheapest_ university he got an acceptance from. Having a scholarship on top of all that, Kyungsoo was virtually paying nothing to learn.

 

He wasn’t extremely happy about attending Maekjong University, but it’s not like he hated it either. He had the mindset of just going through the next few years smoothly, and then going to an extremely well-known graduate school.

 

As smoothly as taking BIOL 100 will allow.

 

Maekjong was notoriously known for having an introductory biology class that tested at the graduate level. Students who were going on the pre-health track thought of it as a rite of passage — if you pass it, good for you; if you get a C, at least you passed; if you fail it, pre-health is not the field for you.

 

Kyungsoo was confident about all his classes, except that one. He had all A’s and A+’s so far (except for that one A- in that Literature class last year, it was his favorite class and he thought he had written his final paper so well, too).

 

Today was the first day of classes, and Kyungsoo had to go to his HIST 252 and PSYCH 170 classes and the BIOL 100 lecture at the end of the day. He was extremely nervous for biology — even though he had taken an advance placement class for it in high school — all because of the professor.

 

The professor’s name was Dr. Kang Soojin and judging from the reviews she got on ratemyprofessor.com, she did _not_ have a good reputation.

 

**_AWFUL_ **

_What a joke, class average for the exams was less than 50, and more than half the class dropped. She should be ashamed of herself._

 

**_AWFUL_ **

_Honestly, I get that this is a weed out class, but when test averages are consistently sub 50/100, the college needs to do something. Her tests are absolutely brutal, considering her multiple choice format and she also refuses to give former test questions out. Just don't, trust me._

 

**_AWFUL_ **

_Save yourself and do not take this class_

 

 ******_AVERAGE_ **

_Med schools are gonna love your bio gpa_

 

 ******_AVERAGE_ **

_Where do i begin.. oh where do i begin. Her tests, oh my lord, even if this was your only course for the whole semester and you study day and night, there is a good chance you won’t pass. The only way to get a good grade is to study this course in your spare time a year before you actually take it. Plan on taking it soph year? start studying freshman_

 

 ******_AVERAGE_ **

_Tests were pure savagery for an introductory course - def a weed-out. I slaved away in this class, and for what? High 50s and low 60s._

 

**_AWFUL_ **

_Kang is one of the few professors I admire. When she gives lectures she's clear, funny, and smart. Once exam day comes, it's all over. Think about something you regret doing, multiply that regret by 1,000,000. Exam averages were low 60's and mid 40's. She mentioned a curve but ended up giving no curve._

 

Kyungsoo remembered reading all of that and just thinking, _‘Damn.’_ At the same time, he wanted to stay positive. He’d been a straight A student his entire life and he was a hard worker. He may have been a procrastinator at times, but he always got done what he needed to get done.

 

So he ignored all those reviews and signed up for the class. He couldn't do anything about it; the class was mandatory for his med school prerequisites.

 

When Kyungsoo got to school, he went straight to the building where his history lecture was. The room was a regular classroom that seated about 30-40 people, and when the professor arrived, Kyungsoo immediately regretted taking the class.

 

The professor was a 90-year old woman, who said she lived long enough to be alive for World War 2. Kyungsoo remembered reading good and positive reviews on RateMyProfessor, but he didn't recall reading anything about not being able to hear shit what she was saying. He was even sitting all the way at the front of the class!!

 

His psychology lecture, which was about 30 minutes after the History lecture, was in an actual lecture hall, that probably seated about 200 people. His professor was young and pretty chill, but Kyungsoo started worrying when he found out the class was gonna be textbook based.

 

 _‘Should I buy the textbook or should I risk it and just rely on his slides?’_ Kyungsoo pondered as he made his way to the auditorium.

 

His biology lecture was right after his psychology class, so he had to go straight after. Bio was in the auditorium, which seated about 600 people on ground level, and 400 people on the second floor balcony level.

 

Kyungsoo always sat on the balcony floor for his chemistry class, but after reading those reviews, he decided sitting near the front for biology would be best. He chose to sit in an aisle seat; he figured he’d be able to have a better view of the slides to take pictures, possibly have a better recording of the lecture, and the professor would be able to see his face up close.

 

“Hey, Kyungsoo,” a voice greeted him, interrupting him from his thoughts. Kyungsoo looked up and saw that Kim Jongdae was standing in the aisle, right next to his seat. Kim Jongdae, the guy he met first semester of freshman year because they were in the same scholar program. “You saved that seat for me, right?” he asked, smiling and pointing to the seat right next to him.

 

“Oh, yeah,” Kyungsoo answered, removing his backpack from the seat. Jongdae moved past him and sat in it, then turned to him.

 

“So how was your winter break?”

 

“Just the usual,” Kyungsoo answered. “I volunteered at the hospital and shadowed a physician. What about you?”

 

“I started that research internship I told you about last semester!” Jongdae said excitedly. “It’s actually super interesting so far. I thought I’d hate research, but I’m actually okay with it right now.”

 

Kyungsoo nodded along with the conversation, “That’s great! So you didn’t have time to get a headstart on this class?”

 

Jongdae’s face contorted in confusion. “Why would I do that?”

 

In response, Kyungsoo’s face grew gravely serious. "I heard that bio here at Maekjong is super hard because of this professor. I looked her up on ratemyprofessor.com and she has a rating of 3.3 stars."

 

"3.3 out of 5? That's not so ba—"

 

"Out of 10," Kyungsoo deadpanned.

 

"Oh."

 

"Yeah."

 

"Well, I mean," Jongdae started, but he couldn't find anything else to say.

 

"Jongdae," Kyungsoo shook his head. "The average professor on that site has 6-7 stars, lowest 5. She has 3.3. I need a 4.0 GPA to get into medical school," he insisted.

 

Jongdae rolled his eyes. "You don’t need a 4.0 to get into med school. Keep in mind that this is an introductory course to bio," he said confidently. "How bad can it be? People are probably exaggerating. Plus, we're in the scholar program, so we’ll probably be fine."

 

"Oh, boy... You haven't even read the reviews yet, I assume."

 

Kyungsoo was about to pull it up on his laptop to show Jongdae, but the professor walked up onto the auditorium stage and to the podium. The older scrambled to get his laptop out of his backpack and onto his lap.

 

At this time, the auditorium was full of students on the ground floor, talking and probably catching up with each other. Kyungsoo's not sure how many people were on the balcony level, but he didn't care because he was focused on mentally preparing himself for what was to come in this class.

 

"Good evening, everyone," Dr. Kang greeted with a smile, tapping on her microphone. Immediately, the class fell silent. "Have you all had a good break?"

 

Students collectively nodded, but Kyungsoo and Jongdae weren't the type to answer.

 

"Okay, great! Good to know that all of you had some time to relax before coming back to school. We’re gonna move really fast because there’s so much material that we have to cover, so let's start going over the—"

 

Someone in the middle section of the auditorium stood up and raised his hand. Despite it being winter, Kyungsoo noticed that he was tan; even from far away, he seemed pretty tall and lean. He spoke up, "But what about you, Dr. Kang? How was your break?"

 

The professor seemed surprised, but answered, "It was great, thank you for asking! I visited my nieces and nephews and baked for them. We also went skiing and snow tubing near the mountains, so that was enjoyable. What's your name, by the way?"

 

"Kim Jongin!" the student answered enthusiastically.

 

Dr. Kang nodded and then said, "It's nice when students raise their hands and ask questions. I know you all need letters of recommendation, but since there's so many of you, there's only so much I can do to remember every single one of you. If you ask questions in class frequently and tell me your name, I'll be able to recognize you and gradually get to know you better. I _want_ you to ask questions, I _want_ you to do well in this class.

 

"Now, that being said, shall we get started? I'll go over the syllabus."

 

She moved away from the podium and went to the computer set up near the projector. She pulled up a PDF of the syllabus that was sent out through email to everyone the night before. Kyungsoo had studied it, so he basically knew everything on it already.

 

She went through things like her email, her office hours, and the textbook needed for the course before she got to the schedule. "If you look on the calendar here," she started to say, pulling out her laser pointer to circle around the date, "today, we're supposed to start Chapter 3 after I'm finished going over this document. Between each test, we have about 6 lectures each. That's not enough time. What you should do is study the textbook before coming to each lecture so that things could run more smoothly. Any questions?”

 

In the corner of his eye, Kyungsoo saw a hand raise from the middle section again. It was the Kim Jongin boy again.

 

“Yes, Jongin?”

 

“What’s happening with Chapter 1 and 2? Why are we skipping those and starting on 3?”

 

“Good question. If we look at the first two chapters, you’ll see that you’ve already learned all of that in chemistry. I figured you guys can review that by yourselves, since you should already know it. It’s fair game, you know, and it will show up on your first test.”

 

Kyungsoo’s stomach did a nervous flip when he heard her talk about testing already. He lowkey doesn’t even remember what he learned in chemistry last semester.

 

“No more questions? I think we can get started now. But first, I want to show you guys something.”

 

Dr. Kang pulled up a slide show and, immediately, Kyungsoo recognized the words on the screen.

 

“Those are from her ratemyprofessor page,” Kyungsoo whispered to Jongdae. The older’s mouth fell open, and he turned back to look at the teacher who actually took the time to look on her own rating page.

 

_— I entered this class a girl and exited a woman_

 

_— If you see any good reviews on this page, it’s because Dr. Kang or her pet TAs went on here and tried to boost up her reputation. Well, it ain’t workin’! She’s absolutely horrible!!_

 

_— Dr. Kang became a professor to torture your souls and destroy your dreams. Her exams are insanely difficult and confusing. Lectures are long and dry. Avoid at all costs._

 

The professor read them out loud, one by one, and some of the students laughed after each one. Kyungsoo was just shook that Dr. Kang dared to put this on in front of everyone during the first lecture of the course.

 

“On that note, let’s get started!” Dr. Kang announced enthusiastically. She pulled up a slide with a chart — Kyungsoo recognized it as the functional groups chart. “The distinctive properties of an organic molecule depend not only on the arrangement of its carbon skeleton, but also on the molecular components attached to that skeleton that are known as functional groups— yes, Jongin?”

 

Kyungsoo looked over in disbelief at the boy’s raised hand again. How many questions could he ask in a lecture? He’s already participating in one lecture more than Kyungsoo has for an entire semester in chemistry lecture.

 

“Do we have to memorize all of those functional groups?”

 

“You should. You should know the name, what molecules it consists of, whether it makes the molecule acidic or basic, et cetera.”

 

The professor proceeded to continue the lesson, and Jongin raised his hand about three more times, each time annoying Kyungsoo more and more.

 

At the end of class, Kyungsoo groaned in frustration because they had only gotten through half of Chapter 3 and they were supposed to start Chapter 4 next lecture. If that Jongin kid hadn’t asked so many questions, maybe they would have gotten farther.

 

“I gotta run and catch the train, because if I miss it even for just a second, I’d have to wait 15 more minutes for it,” Kyungsoo told Jongdae apologetically. The older just smiled and said goodnight to him, so Kyungsoo hurriedly bolted out of the building and to the subway station.

  


As more lectures passed, Jongin asked questions that became less and less relevant to the lesson. At the beginning of the lecture, he would ask things pertaining to what was shown on the slide, but about an hour into the lesson, he manages to slip in some random questions such as how was the professor’s day or what she ate for lunch.

 

Kyungsoo wasn’t sure if Jongin was doing it on purpose until he found out he was a student athlete. One night, he came parading into the auditorium wearing the college’s soccer team apparel and with a sports backpack that was just like the one his friend Chanyeol had. He figured all student athletes got one, so seeing Jongin with it on his back made him realize that he really probably didn’t care about this class at all.

 

Most of the students silently encouraged Jongin to keep doing it, to keep asking ridiculous questions, just so they could stop typing notes and secretly check their social media.

 

Kyungsoo was not one of those people. He wanted to pull his own hair out of frustration.

 

Most of the time, he tried to calm himself down by saying he’ll catch up on the material himself. He wasn’t so sure how well that was going to work out for him, because he’s basically just reading the textbook — someone on ratemyprofessor said that just doing that will not guarantee passing the class.

 

He had half the mind to go up to Kim Jongin and tell him to stop. Even though half of the class would hate him for it, he'd be willing to do it for his grades. He thinks that that half of the class is probably underestimating how hard Dr. Kang’s tests could be.

 

Not taking his eyes off his laptop, because he was typing up whatever Dr. Kang was saying as fast as he could, he leaned closer to Jongdae and whispered, “Maybe I'll just go to her office hours, do you wanna come with me?”

 

Jongdae wasn't responding, so Kyungsoo gently elbowed his friend. When there still was no response, he decided to look over. “Did you hear what I— what are you…”

 

Kyungsoo scowled when he realized Jongdae was concentratedly playing Tetris, refusing to remove his eyes from the screen. “Sorry, did you say something?”

 

“Hey! Are you even listening to the lecture?!” Kyungsoo shout-whispered, harshly reprimanding his friend but not wanting the whole auditorium to hear him.

 

“You need to lighten up; to be honest, I find the lectures to be completely useless,” Jongdae responded with the brutal truth.

 

“Don't ask me to share my notes with you,” Kyungsoo warned.

 

He decided then that Jongdae probably wouldn't want to go out of his way to attend Dr. Kang’s office hours, so he'll just ask her about it himself.

 

The end of class was indicated when students started obnoxiously packing their bags to make sure Dr. Kang noticed to end the lecture. While everyone was making their way out of the auditorium, Kyungsoo fought the flow to make it to the stage, where the professor was packing up.

 

If she noticed Kyungsoo’s presence, she didn't make that fact known. Kyungsoo tried to wait until she seemed finished, but he felt like waiting for that time to come would be too long.

 

“Good evening, Dr. Kang,” Kyungsoo greeted, bowing politely. “I was wondering when I could stop by for your office hours to go ov--”

 

“Sorry, just shoot me an email so we can schedule a day and time because I'm busy right now,” the professor interrupted, not sparing a glance at her student.

 

“Oh,” Kyungsoo responded dumbly, a little upset that she wasn't that invested in his situation. “Okay, I'll just do that then. Sorry for bothering you and have a goodnight.”

 

When she made a noise of approval, Kyungsoo turned on his heels and made a beeline for the exit. He was a little upset because she had somewhat wasted his time and maybe was a little rude about it; maybe if he ran faster than usual, he could still make it to the subway in time.

  


“ _The mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell_ ,” Jongdae told Kyungsoo. “Just write that all over your test. That’s literally all you need to pass.”

 

“We’re not even on _‘The Cell’_ unit, so shut up and let me cram,” Kyungsoo seethed. He needed to concentrate; he tried to focus his attention on his computer screen, but found that his mind was a mess. He read a few more lines in the outline before he burst out, “It’s all because of Kim Jongin!! I’d be more at ease if he didn’t ask all those pointless questions during lecture!!”

 

“Woah, woah, woah,” Jongdae said alarmed. “Don’t blame it someone else. If you studied well enough and are comfortable with the material, then you should be fine.”

 

“But I’m not comfortable with the material _because_ the professor didn’t go over it during the lecture _because someone_ was asking too many irrelevant questions,” he gritted out in a ramble.

 

“I thought you were going to her office hours?”

 

“She never responded to my email,” Kyungsoo muttered bitterly.

 

“You didn’t follow up?”

 

“I did. She didn’t respond to those either. She doesn’t even have walk-in hours.”

 

Jongdae’s mouth fell open from shock. “Damn, Dr. Kang is a savage.”

 

Kyungsoo ran both his hands through his hair in frustration before returning back to the outlines. Before he knew it, it was already 5:15 PM.

 

“Kyungsoo, we gotta go,” Jongdae said adamantly, trying to wrench his friend off his seat. It was a comical scene, the younger desperately holding onto the table, gluing his face to the screen to absorb as much information as possible.

 

“Stop! Give me five more minutes!!”

 

“It takes 5 minutes to get to the auditorium!! If we arrive late, we won’t be able to take the test you crammed so hard for.” Jongdae threatened him, “I’m going to leave without you.”

 

The younger let out a sigh of defeat before closing his laptop and stuffing it into his bag. Together, they walked out of the library and made their way to their doom.

 

“How do _you_ feel about the test,” Kyungsoo asked nervously.

 

Jongdae shrugged as the entered the lecture hall. “Meh, I could’ve studied better,” he admitted, grabbing a clipboard from a bin and handing one to him.  

 

 _‘I studied my ass off. I need to do well,’_ Kyungsoo thought, as he took a scantron from one of the teacher’s assistants who were waiting by the entrance to hand them all out.

 

They sat in their regular seats, except one apart, because the TA onstage instructed that people could not sit directly next to each other. From the corner of his eye, Kyungsoo could see Kim Jongin, getting up from his seat and having to move away from the people he regularly sat with.

 

Kyungsoo carefully filled in his name on the scantron sheet, then waited for any further instructions. The test booklet was handed out, alternating versions given to students sitting next to each other so that cheating was not an option.

 

“Good luck everyone,” Dr. Kang wished, speaking into her microphone. _“You may begin.”_

 

Mind racing, Kyungsoo immediately flipped open the booklet and carefully read the first question.

 

He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw how long the questions and each answer choice were. He had to read them three times over before fully understanding what they were asking.

 

“Are we still best friends?” the professor said into the microphone jokingly, earning a collective groan from the entire class.

 

_This was going to be a long two hours._

 

. . .

 

_00:00.00_

 

“Time is up. Please close your booklets, make sure your name is on your scantron and put it on on top, then hand it to the nearest TA.”

 

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes back and closed them in frustration. He did as he was told, packing his pencil and eraser into his bag before getting up on shaky legs and handing in his test, followed behind by Jongdae.

 

He couldn’t believe the mental and emotional trauma he was just put through.

 

The test was the most brutal thing he’s ever had to take, and that’s counting all his college entrance exams, his driving test, and that stupid internet game, [The Impossible Test!™](http://www.addictinggames.com/puzzle-games/theimpossiblequiz.jsp). (At least for that last one, he could take it as many times as he wanted, and he ended up winning because he learned from all his mistakes.)

 

Making it to the subway was the last thing on his mind, because his brain was fried. It literally hurt him to think after all that memory-racking he had to do during the exam.

 

He waited for Jongdae to turn in his test; he didn't know what to say, so instead just gave an exasperated look to his friend. Jongdae nodded sympathetically, completely understanding. He patted Kyungsoo's back, urging him to keep walking out of the auditorium, because life goes on.

 

When they exited out of the building, Kyungsoo buried his face in his hands. "That was so hard. I can't believe that just happened."

 

"It was a lot harder than I expected," Jongdae admitted. "I just did my best."

 

"I can't even ask you what you got for the questions I'm unsure of because I can't even remember the questions. They were so long," Kyungsoo complained. "Actually, I probably have too many to remember. I was so unsure of so many..."

 

"Same," Jongdae said, but then pointed. "Hey, Minseok is over there. We can ask him how he thinks he did."

 

Kyungsoo didn't really talk to Minseok, but Jongdae did. He just knew that Minseok was in the same scholar program as they were and that he was really good at Chemistry. Another thing he knew was that he's double majoring in Chemistry and Business — Kyungsoo thought he was crazy, because majoring in science was already hard enough, but from what he's seen from him, he thinks Minseok can pull it off.

 

"Minseok!" Jongdae called out, walking over to him with Kyungsoo following close behind. The older was leaning on a ledge just outside the building, holding a cup of coffee. He looked up from his phone when he heard his name. "What'd you think of the test? How'd you think you did?"

 

"Uhm," Kyungsoo watched as Minseok's face scrunched up in hesitation — this was the first time he's ever seen the older look so unsure since the first time they've met — "It was pretty difficult. I don't want to say I did well, but I don't think I did so bad either. I just did a lot of deduction and guessing."

 

"Right?" Jongdae agreed, "There were so many questions with the "There are more than one correct choice" and "None of the above" choices. Those were the hardest! It made me doubt myself!!"

 

"I'm sure we didn't do too bad," Minseok said, taking a sip from his coffee. "If so, then we'll just do better next time. Now we know what to expect."

 

Kyungsoo started to tune out their conversation, not really wanting to talk about the test. Even though it was pretty dark out already, he looked around him to see the faces of the people all around him, walking past and they exited the building.

 

Kim Jongin’s tall and lithe figure caught his eye and he couldn’t help but feel annoyed. Kyungsoo watched as he walked past him and judging from his body language and his facial expression, the guy looked like he either didn’t think the test was hard or just didn’t care how badly he did. Kyungsoo thinks it’s the latter because of all the stupid and unnecessary questions he asked in class.

 

"True," Kyungsoo could hear Jongdae’s voice tune back in. Jongin disappeared from his sight as the older let out an exaggerated sigh. "Well, we better get going. Goodnight!" He put his hands on Kyungsoo's back, a subtle indication to start walking, so Kyungsoo bowed and muttered a goodnight before turning to leave.

 

"Have a nice night, get home safely," Minseok said, raising his cup as the two of them started to walk away.

 

As they walked away from the entrance of the North Building and towards the entrance of the subway that Jongdae had to take home, the older pointed out, "See, even Minseok thought it was hard."

 

"I'm— I don't know," Kyungsoo answered despondently, not knowing how he's supposed to feel anymore. "I'm... I gotta get home. I have to catch up on chem homework."

 

"Oh, right... Chem homework..." Jongdae dumbly recalled. "I haven't watched any of the videos because of the bio test."

 

"Yes, that's why we should head home now," Kyungsoo chuckled, amused with Jongdae's daze. "I'll start heading off now. See you tomorrow, Jongdae."

 

"Get home safely!!" the loud elder shouted out before disappearing down the subway entrance.

 

Now Kyungsoo was left all alone to walk that 10-minute distance to his own subway station, his own thoughts now echoing in his mind because he had no one to talk to. He tried to walk as quickly as he could, but he knew it was a little too late to make it on time.

 

When he reached the platform, it was nearly empty meaning Kyungsoo had definitely missed his subway. The only thing he was left to do was ponder his life choices while waiting for the next train to come.

  


It was a week after Doomsday #1 and Kyungsoo was anxiously sitting in the lecture hall waiting for class to start. Jongdae was already sitting next to him, playing Tetris again as if he had already forgotten how taking the test felt like.

 

Emails were sent out saying that everyone was supposed to get their test results back today. Since 12 in the afternoon, Kyungsoo kept avidly refreshing the page where his score would be posted, but the past five hours he had been doing that had all been in vain.

 

Kyungsoo watched with eagle eyes as Dr. Kang made an appearance onstage. She began setting up her things just in time for the lesson to start at 5:35.

 

"Alright, so before we start with our lesson, I just wanna talk a little bit about that test that we just took," she announced, immediately perking up Kyungsoo's interest and anxiety. Dr. Kang moved her mic to the side a little and asked one of the TAs offstage, "Scores have been posted right?"

 

Of course, Kyungsoo heard what she had asked. As soon as the TA nodded, he refreshed the page on his laptop and saw his score. He felt his heart drop.

 

_60/100_

 

"Your scores have been posted," he could distantly hear Dr. Kang's voice back on the microphone. "If you haven't already done so, please check them."

 

Kyungsoo couldn't believe his eyes, because this was the lowest grade he's ever gotten in his life. This is a failing grade by his high school standards. "This can't be right," he muttered with disbelief. "I couldn't have done that badly."

 

"Why, what'd you get?" Jongdae asked, his eyes briefly darting towards the screen.

 

Kyungsoo immediately blocked his grade with his hands. “You tell me first, then I’ll tell you mine.”

 

“No fair, I asked first,” Jongdae pouted. “But I got a 52.”

 

“What,” Kyungsoo blurted out. “You seem so calm though. Are you lying?”

 

“I swear, I’m not,” Jongdae insisted, turning his own laptop screen to show his grade. “I mean I’m not happy with it, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”

 

Kyungsoo slumped in his seat as they turned back their attention to the professor.

 

“The class average was a 49,” Dr. Kang announced. “This is way below what it normally is, so I don’t know what went wrong. I don’t know if it’s because you guys aren’t reading the text before coming to class or if it’s because the notes I give you aren’t helping…” Kyungsoo immediately scoffed in his head, thinking, _‘The class average from previous years were terrible just from her teaching alone, of course the average would be like this now that there was Kim Jongin hindering the lesson with his questions.’_

 

“This has never happened before — this is really the first time I’m doing this during the 14 years I’ve taught here — but I’m giving you guys a second chance,” Dr. Kang declared, the class broke out in hushed and confused murmurs. “The TAs and I have been in discussion about it and we’ve decided that we will drop your Exam #1 score and replace it with your second test score if you do better.”

 

The auditorium erupted in cheers and clapping — Kyungsoo was too stunned to do anything, sitting there with his eyes bulging out, while Jongdae was smiling brightly with his hand on his chest from the shock.

 

“We gotta study our asses off for the next test,” Jongdae said with determination, and Kyungsoo agreed.

 

After that, the professor immediately dived back into where they left off from their last lesson. Thinking about what had just happened, Kyungsoo felt relieved that Dr. Kang came up with that kind of proposition, but at the same time, he felt pressured because he wasn’t sure if he could really do better. The gears in his head started turning as he multi-tasked listening to the lecture and thinking about his next plan-of-action for Exam #2.

 

_— Would the second test be as hard as the first test, if not harder?_

 

_— How could he change his study habits to do better this time around?_

 

_— How hard is it to get a grasp of Dr. Kang during her office hours?_

 

_— Are there any other resources than the textbook and online outlines that he could utilize to_

 

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the professor call out, “Yes, Jongin?”

 

— _KIM JONGIN._

 

"I know we’re talking about glycolysis right now, but say you re-discovered pyruvate. What would you name it? Because I don’t see how pyruvate’s name can be derived from glucose. It should be… tricose or something.”

 

Kyungsoo’s mouth fell slightly open and his eyes squinted in disbelief. _‘He’s really gonna continue asking dumb questions when majority of the class failed the first test?’_ he angrily thought to himself.

 

“There he goes again,” Jongdae mumbled amusedly.

 

“He needs to _stop_ ,” Kyungsoo muttered back to his friend. “He’s wasting our time by asking questions that won’t show up on the test.”

 

“Let him be,” the older urged. “He probably didn’t do that well on the test and genuinely needs to know the answer of these questions to get a better grip on the material in his own weird way.”

 

Kyungsoo didn’t know why, but Jongdae defending Jongin pissed him off. If Jongin really needed to know the answers to those kind of questions, why couldn’t he ask during office hours? And why would he ask Dr. Kang if she liked avocado toast in the middle of the third lecture?

 

By the time class ended, Kyungsoo made up his mind. He arrived at his decision because he really needed to salvage his grades. The need to get into medical school was dire; he'd really do anything to maintain his 4.0 GPA.

 

He was going to confront Kim Jongin.

 

Jongdae finished packing up his stuff, when he saw that Kyungsoo hadn’t run off to catch the subway in time yet. “Hey, why are you still here?” Kyungsoo was so focused on watching Jongin’s movements that he didn’t bother answering Jongdae. “What are you looking at?”

 

Once Jongin said goodbye to the people he sat with, Kyungsoo actively started pursuing his target. Ignoring Jongdae calling his name, he caught up with Jongin in the hall, just before he was going to leave the building. Kyungsoo grabbed his wrist, and a startled Jongin whipped around just to be lugged away from the exit.

 

“Come with me for a second,” Kyungsoo gritted out.

 

“What? What's happening?” Jongin asked, probably completely thunderstruck that a stranger had no shame or reservation in dragging him somewhere. “What are you doing?”

 

Jongdae watched the whole thing unfold before him and was equally as shocked. “Kyungsoo, what are you doing?! You’re not gonna hurt him, are you?”

 

Kyungsoo wordlessly dragged Jongin all the way to the second floor, so that they wouldn’t be in the way of students who were exiting the lecture hall. He’s surprised that Jongin let him drag him this far; the guy was a lot taller than him and could have definitely stopped him if he wanted to.

 

“You!” Kyungsoo frustratedly started, pointing an accusing finger at his face. “What year are you?”

 

A confused expression found its place on Jongin’s face again. “Freshman…”

 

“That means I’m older than you, so you better listen up,” Kyungsoo warned. “You ask too many questions, you know?”

 

Jongin shrugged. “Yes, I know that. So?”

 

The younger’s nonchalant attitude served to annoy Kyungsoo more. “ _‘So?’_ You’re holding the class back because of your stupid, unreasonable questions! We could’ve covered more in class, but instead, the professor is talking about the carbohydrates in her lunch because of you!”

 

“It’s nice to talk to the professor and take breaks from her lesson,” Jongin answered with an amused smile on his face. “You seem a bit uptight, you need to chill a little.”

 

“Listen, I take my grades _very seriously_ , so you need to stop being an inconsiderate dick and stop holding back the class. I’m 90% sure that the class average would have been better if you just withheld your questions for an office hour session with Dr. Kang.”

 

“Why don’t you just say that you’re angry at me because you failed the test?”

 

“Hey! It’s not just me, it’s majority of the class!” Kyungsoo immediately retorted.  

 

“Why should I care for other people’s grades? It’s not my problem. I got a 92, so I'm not concerned at all.”

 

Kyungsoo wanted to blow up. Jongin bragging about his grades flipped a switch in him that he didn't even know he had. “I might be a foot shorter than you, but I swear to God, I’ll fight you!”

 

“I’m a tranquil spirit. I don’t fight.”

 

“Are tranquil spirits lazy student-athlete assholes, because the lot of you are insensitive and incompetent when it comes to academics.”  

 

“Woah, woah, woah. Don’t say things like that,” Jongin threatened. “You _don’t_ say things like that. You need to get your head out of your ass that student athletes don’t care about academics. Some of my teammates are the smartest ones in their classes.”

 

 _“Why should I care for what I say about other people? It’s not my problem,”_ Kyungsoo shot back, mocking him for what he said earlier.

 

“Oh, you wanna go?!” Jongin said angrily.

 

“Yeah, I wanna go!!”

 

“You _really_ wanna go?!”

 

“I _do_ wanna go!”

 

“Wanna go on a date?!” the younger asked, just as aggressively as the last two questions.

 

“Yeah, let’s go!— wait, what?!”

 

“Do you want kids?!”

 

“Hey! Wait a second—”

 

Jongin’s laugh cut through the air, interrupting Kyungsoo from what he was going to say. “I can’t believe that worked!”

 

“What worked?!”

 

“You still didn’t even say no! Alright, Thursday, after our lecture, let’s go on a date!”

 

Jongin quickly ran off before Kyungsoo could protest. He’s not sure how that happened, how the events managed to turn on him, whether or not Jongin was joking, but he was sure he was not going on a date with that lazy asshole.

  


_“What?”_

 

“Yeah.”

 

_“Why?”_

 

“What do you mean why?” Kyungsoo asked, offended with the connotation of Jongdae’s question. “Is there something wrong with asking me on a date?”

 

“Uhh,” the older struggled to answer. “I mean, you hate his guts, so you wouldn’t be the best person he could ask… Why would he ask _you_?”

 

“I don’t know. I’m wondering the same thing.”

 

They both peered over to where Jongin was. He was standing up from his seat, looking down at his friend with a firm and resistant look on his face. His friend seemed to be quarreling with him, and he tugged on Jongin’s arm to pull him back into his seat. Kyungsoo was a little curious about what they were arguing about, but decided he shouldn’t care.

 

“So… are you going to go with him after this lecture?” Jongdae asked curiously.

 

Kyungsoo made a disgusted face. “No? Why would I? I don’t have time for that.”

 

Jongdae flinched with the younger’s blunt answer and decided to drop the conversation after that. Dr. Kang was starting her lesson anyway, so there wasn’t really any more room to keep talking.

 

To their surprise, Jongin didn’t ask too many questions. He still asked more than the student population in the class combined, but it wasn’t as excessive as usual. Kyungsoo would have noticed, but he was too busy typing notes and taking pictures of the slides.

 

“The protein maintains its sequence necessary for targeting it to find destination. Oh? I see people packing. Is it time to go now?” Dr. Kang asked. Kyungsoo looked at the time on his screen and widened his eyes. He hadn’t even realized time passed by so quickly. As soon as Dr. Kang officially dismissed the class, Jongin shot up from his seat and ran over to Kyungsoo. Jongdae and Kyungsoo stared at him with bewildered expressions.

 

“Kyungsoo,” he breathed out, looking like he was in a rush. “I forgot something in my locker. You didn’t forget about our date, right? Please wait for me in the West Lobby and then we can go together.”

 

Without waiting for a response, Jongin ran off, not wanting to waste another second. Kyungsoo turned to Jongdae with furrowed brows and said, “Yeah, I’m not going to wait.”

 

“You’re just gonna leave?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You’re a savage.”

 

Kyungsoo shrugged, picking up his stuff and turning to head out of the auditorium. Not once, during his ten minute walk to the train station, did he feel guilty for ditching Jongin without a word.

  


Kyungsoo and Jongdae were sitting in the library trying to finish as much homework as they could before going to class. They pretty much had the same courses, so they tried to do homework together during their free periods.

 

“Screw this, what even is titration?” Jongdae complained. “Just send me the homework later, I gotta start my Literature essay. It’s due tomorrow.”

 

“First, bio notes. Now, chem homework,” Kyungsoo grumbled. “Do your work.”

 

“Not like you don't have time to do the work. You’re not going on dates or anything,” Jongdae said cautiously, side-eyeing his friend.  

 

“That shade though…”

 

“I still can’t believe you did that.”

 

"He probably ditched me, too," Kyungsoo defended himself. "You saw him run off. He most likely left after telling me to wait. I just didn't fall for it."

 

"He told you to wait and that you'll leave together, though."

 

Kyungsoo suddenly felt pissed off. "Why are you defending him?" he asked. "If you put yourself in my shoes, you'd say no to a date with him, too. We barely know each other and he asked me out while I said I was going to _fight_ him. If you don't think there's something wrong with him in the head just from that, then..."

 

"I mean, I would have said no," Jongdae started, "but you straight up just left. You didn't even tell him no."

 

"He didn't really give me a chance to," Kyungsoo clarified. "He kinda always just ran off before I could say anything. So it's really his fault, not mine."

 

Jongdae shook his head at how shameless Kyungsoo seemed at his own actions. He decided there was nothing he could really get him to do, so he shut up and turn his attention back to his Literature essay since it wasn't going to write itself.

 

"Time to go," Kyungsoo said forty minutes later, closing his laptop.

 

"I wrote... the introduction," Jongdae sighed, packing up his own things. Kyungsoo tutted, but the older ignored him and just walked past him and out the library.

 

Together, they walked to the auditorium and made it to the lobby just outside of it, when they saw Kim Jongin. There was something off about him and Kyungsoo couldn't put his finger on it.

 

"He looks... so depressed today," Jongdae said out loud, without really thinking. Realization hit him in the face and he turned to Kyungsoo with wide eyes. "Do you think it's because you stood him up?"

 

Kyungsoo looked at him again and saw that Jongdae was right — Jongin's shoulders were hunched over and even though his head was hung low, Kyungsoo could see how downtrodden the expression on his face looked. This sight — it... made him almost feel bad.

 

Almost.

 

"Don't be ridiculous," Kyungsoo curtly answered, pushing past the older and following Jongin into the auditorium. The student athlete took his seat in the middle section, while Kyungsoo and Jongdae sat in their usual spots. However, they were joined by a certain tall friend. Because of his bright, red hair, Chanyeol was easy to spot coming from miles away.

 

“I’m sitting with you guys today,” he announced, plopping down on the seat next to Jongdae.  

 

“What happened with Baekhyun? Did you guys get into a fight?” Jongdae asked worriedly.

 

“No,” Chanyeol answered. “He’s not even here. He’s skipping class to go to an SNSD concert.”

 

“Why aren’t you with him?”

 

“Well, one of us needs to be here to take notes,” Chanyeol said defensively, then muttered, “We could only get one ticket. And he beat me in rock-paper-scissors…”

 

Jongdae burst out laughing and started taunting him, while Kyungsoo just ignored the both of them. The lesson was starting and the second test was fast approaching; he didn’t have time to take part in their antics.

 

Usually during a lesson, Kyungsoo was always so immersed in listening to what the professor had to say, but it was halfway through the lecture when Kyungsoo noticed that he had more notes than usual. He scrolled through the document he was typing on, counting three more pages than the normal pace they went at.

 

Something was off.

 

Kyungsoo turned to Jongdae and asked, “Hey, is it just me or has Jongin not asked any questions?”

 

The older didn’t take his eyes off the screen, fingers swiftly and intently moving on the arrows of the keyboard. Kyungsoo took a look at the screen.

 

“Again?!” he hissed because Jongdae was playing a stupid game again. This time, he was playing Snake.

 

“Kyungsoo, I can’t talk right now. There’s absolutely no way I can win without taking my eyes off of the game, okay, I can’t even blink. I need full absolute concentration!” he whisper-shouted back. “I have to beat everyone and get #1 on the leadership board!”

 

Kyungsoo knocked his fist into Jongdae’s head, causing the older’s attention to scatter and the snake in his game to crash into a wall.

 

“Aish!”

 

“You’re suppose to be paying attention like that to the lecture instead of your game! Haven’t you noticed something has been off about Jongin?” Kyungsoo scolded. Jongdae peered to where the student athlete was sitting, so Kyungsoo continued, “He hasn’t asked a single question this entire lecture, now that I think about it.”  

 

“Who? Jonginnie? Didn’t you hear?” Chanyeol butted in. “He’s the star player on our soccer team, but he got yelled at by Coach the other day.”

 

“What? Why?” Jongdae asked, suddenly interested in something other than his game.

 

“He skipped practice for the first time — I think it was some time last week? — and he forgot to tell anyone beforehand. We had to alter the practice around him, so Coach gave him a hard time because of that. I don’t think he’d be too enthusiastic to talk in class after that mess.”

 

“When’d he skip?” Jongdae said, suspicion written all over his face.

 

Chanyeol’s eyes looked up in thought. “Thursday?”

 

Jongdae’s mouth fell open and he immediately turned to Kyungsoo. “Thursday? As in the day—”

 

“Stop talking and pay attention to the lecture,” Kyungsoo immediately cut in before his friend could mention anything to Chanyeol. The other two exchanged glances at each other before Jongdae went back to playing Snake.

 

The lecture went on normally as it should have, but Kyungsoo couldn’t feel at ease. He was supposed to, because he liked the fact that they were bulldozing through the chapter and getting more lecture notes than ever, but something didn’t sit well with him. He thought it was because maybe he wasn’t use to the pace of the lecture, but Chanyeol’s words about Jongin being punished were ringing in his head.

 

When Dr. Kang dismissed the class, Kyungsoo packed his laptop and grabbed his coat. As soon as he turned around, he saw a tall blonde kid holding onto a forlorn Jongin's wrist. Even though Jongin looked like he didn't want to be there and was dragged against his will, he was still cowering behind his friend as if he was a protective barrier. Kyungsoo realized this was the guy who always sat next to Jongin during lecture.

 

"You're Do Kyungsoo, right?" the blonde guy asked.

 

"Yes," he answered cautiously. "Who are you?"

 

"I'm Jongin's friend, Oh Sehun. Follow me, I think we should talk."

 

"Sehun—" Jongin started.

 

"Shut up, I'm doing this for you," Sehun cut in before turning back to Kyungsoo. "Let's go."

 

"I have to get home,” Kyungsoo told him. “Excuse me, I gotta reach the train before it takes forever to get to the station again.”

 

Sehun took hold of the shorter guy with his free hand. “Going home can wait. I think you owe Jongin an apology and an explanation.”

— — —

 

Kyungsoo coughed and cleared his throat awkwardly as Jongin looked up at him with sad puppy-dog eyes. In fact, he looked like a kicked puppy, a complete 180 degree turn from his confident self the last time they had a confrontation.

 

Jongin’s friend dragged them both up to the second floor — which was where they had fought before and ended up with an uncalled for date, but Sehun didn’t know that — and left them alone to talk it out. Kyungsoo wasn’t really sure what he had to say, and Jongin didn’t exactly look like he was gonna talk anytime soon either.

 

“I heard about what happened with your coach…” Kyungsoo started off.

 

Jongin looked back down to the floor, but Kyungsoo could still see his wounded expression.

 

“Well, who told you to set up a date on a day that you had practice? Not me,” the older scolded, raising his voice. “And if you saw that I wasn’t going to come after 5 minutes of waiting, you should have just went back to practice!”

 

Jongin’s lips pouted and an unexpected thought crossed Kyungsoo’s mind, but he decided to push it down in this situation. “I thought we might as well go together from lecture and that you’d be busy on the weekends…” Jongin sighed, “I also thought something might have happened to you, and I had faith that you’d come back. I waited there for an hour.”

 

“Waiting there for an hour, how productive,” Kyungsoo muttered. “If you went to practice after waiting for 15 minutes, maybe you wouldn’t have been yelled at so harshly…”

 

“Being yelled at by Coach is bearable, but being stood up on top of that made me kinda feel shitty,” Jongin confessed. The way he said it made Kyungsoo feel even more conflicted, especially with the pathetic appearance Jongin was taking on right now.

 

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo blurted out, surprising even himself. He didn’t expect to make an apology, especially when he thought he had done nothing wrong this whole time. “I feel bad. This whole thing was a weird and uncomfortable situation for me, but I still shouldn’t have done that to you. I could’ve handled it better.”

 

Slowly, a small smile placed itself on Jongin’s face. “You know, you can make it up to me somehow.”

 

“How? I’ll try to,” Kyungsoo said determinedly. He was somewhat glad that Jongin’s spirits looked much better and that he didn’t look so pitiful anymore.

 

“Let’s go on another date,” Jongin requested, “and this time, don’t bail on me.”

 

“Uhh,” the shorter hesitated, but then he saw how Jongin was looking at him with earnest eyes. “Fine. But this time, try not to set it on a day you have practice. I actually feel bad.”

 

Jongin beamed a bright smile at the older and said, “Great! We can figure out a day and time while I walk you to the train sta—”

 

“I probably already missed my first train, so I have to hurry up and catch the second one. Plus, I like walking there alone,” Kyungsoo cut in with a stoic expression. “No thanks.”

 

Jongin shrugged, “I was doing it out of the kindness of my heart, but I guess I can do that another day.”

 

“Just go home,” Kyungsoo said wearily.

 

“Okay, but can I borrow your phone first? My battery’s dead and I need to call my mom.”

 

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, unlocking his phone and silently giving it to the younger. Looking the other way, he pretended to be interested in a tutoring ad that was hung up on the wall as Jongin punched a number into the phone.

 

Hearing a ringtone go off, Kyungsoo immediately whirled around as Jongin dug into his pocket and pulled out his very much alive phone. He ended the call on Kyungsoo’s phone, giving it back to him, and waved his phone in Kyungsoo’s face, displaying a missed call with his number on it.

 

“You scammed me.”

 

Jongin smiled. “While I was waiting for you, I realized I couldn’t call you and ask where you were because I never had your number. Now, it won’t be a problem this time around,” he said, stuffing his phone back into his pocket.

 

“Delete that number now,” Kyungsoo warned, taking a step towards him. “You didn’t ask.”

 

Jongin backed away and said, “I’m gonna have fun spamming it with texts.” He stuck out his tongue, running towards the doors that led to the stairs.

 

“Hey! Come back here!”

 

Jongin stopped and turned around to face the shorter. “Goodnight, Kyungsoo-hyung! Expect a message later!” he shouted out gleefully, before running off to disappear through the doors.

  


“You’re stuck on another date with him?!” Jongdae laughed. Kyungsoo wanted to smack the amused grin off of his friend’s face.

 

“Stop laughing,” Kyungsoo warned him, then sighed. “This time, I actually agreed and I won’t stand him up.”

 

Jongdae’s face fell. “What? What made you change your mind?” He asked concerned, “Did something happen? Did he blackmail you?”

 

“Why would he blackmail me?” Kyungsoo shot out.

 

Jongdae tilted his head thoughtfully. “I guess. It’s true that there’s nothing that can be used to blackmail you with. You’re boring.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“How’s studying for the upcoming bio test going?” Jongdae asked quickly to change the subject.

 

Kyungsoo groaned. He didn’t even want to think about that test. He’s been too distracted lately to even sit down and read a good few lines of the textbook.

 

Ever since Jongin got ahold of Kyungsoo’s number, he’s been texting him every single day. It was always Jongin who texted first — initially, Kyungsoo didn’t even bother to answer. He thought it’d be mean to block the younger’s number, so he just let it be and disregarded the texts, until…

 

`Jongin: Hyung, are you ignoring me :(`  
---  
  
 

Kyungsoo remembered hanging his head back and closing his eyes in frustration before typing a message back. Once he sent that text, it was all over. There was no going back.

 

When it came to texting, Jongin was like an over-excited Yorkie that sprinted with light-speed throughout the room. Sometimes, Kyungsoo’s phone would almost blow up because Jongin would send 16 messages all at once. Kyungsoo couldn’t recall a time when there was someone who was so willing and enthusiastic to text him this much, but it was a little bit overboard at first. It got better when Kyungsoo told him to calm down and text him properly.

 

At the same time, Kyungsoo found himself unable to not respond after that one message. It was actually entertaining to talk to Jongin that sometimes, they’d be up until 3 in the morning talking. Kyungsoo was fine with that because his body doesn’t need that much sleep after all, but once the bio test day crept up way too near, he told Jongin that he wouldn’t be able to talk as much.

 

A text message popped up on his phone, tearing him out of his daze. Kyungsoo immediately grabbed it before Jongdae could even sneak a peek.

 

`Jongin: We gotta go on our date before it’s grind time for the test `

 

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes at the stupid way Jongin talked and the unnecessary emoji at the end. All the while Jongdae was looking at him with squinted, mischievous eyes, he typed a quick message back to him before setting his phone back down on the table.  

 

`Kyungsoo: Set the date`

 

Jongdae tried to look for any sign on Kyungsoo’s face that could give away who the message could be from. Nothing came out of that because the younger kept on such a stoic expression.

 

`Jongin: SFKSJDFKJ`

`Jongin: THAT PUN`

`Jongin: WAS IT INTENTIONAL`

`Jongin: IF IT WASN’T YOU’RE LITERALLY THE GREATEST`

`Jongin: DATE LIKE US GOING OUT`

`Jongin: AND DATE AS IN DAY`

`Jongin: WOW KYUNGSOO I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE LIKE THIS`

`Jongin: PLEASE CONTINUE TO SHOW ME MORE DIFFERENT SIDES OF YOU`

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened at the influx of messages and grabbed it off the table to prevent it from vibrating and creating too much noise in the library. When he saw the messages, he couldn’t help but sigh at the younger’s stupidity.

 

“He’s acting like a total freshman…” he grumbled in a low voice.

 

“What was that?” Jongdae asked, not able to hear what he said.

 

“It’s nothing,” Kyungsoo answered back, not taking his eyes off the screen and starting to type a back response. He looked at the messages again and couldn’t help but smile, because it was actually pretty cute.

  


“Hyung!”

 

Kyungsoo turned around and saw Jongin running towards him with a bright smile on his face. When he reached him, he said, “You made it! I’m glad you really decided not to ditch me again!”

 

“Hey! Don’t say that,” Kyungsoo scolded him, embarrassed. “It still makes me feel like a bad guy. Plus, I already said I wasn’t going to do it again, so why would I go back on my word? And, what can I do since you have my cell phone number—”

 

Jongin’s laugh interrupted him. “Alright, I got it, I got it, hyung. You don’t have to come up with even more excuses.”

 

“Excuses?”

 

“I know you don’t want to say out loud that you’re somewhat interested in me and that I’m fun to be around,” he said cheekily. “It’s okay, I know.”

 

Kyungsoo looked at him dumbfounded. “ _Interested? Fun to be around?_ My foot,” he scoffed. “So, where are you taking me?”

 

“We’re gonna eat! We’re gonna need some brain food if we wanna do well on the next test!”

 

Kyungsoo nodded and Jongin gestured that he’s going to start walking. “Let’s go!”

 

While on their way there, Kyungsoo couldn’t help but think about what Jongin was wearing — he looked cool. He was wearing a nice and long beige trench coat with black pants and white sneakers. Meanwhile, he stuffed himself into his huge-ass marshmallow black jacket.

 

“It's only the first date, but you're brave enough to blatantly check me out like this,” Jongin teased him again. Although he was stilling looking forward while walking, Kyungsoo could see the amused smile on his face. “I guess you don't like subtlety.”

 

Even though Jongin wasn't looking at him, the older tried so hard to will his face not to get red from embarrassment. The cold weather made it harder than it was supposed to be. “It's not that!” he protested. “You're just dressed really nicely compared to me, and I'm wondering if I underdressed,” he clarified, poking at the puffiness of his own jacket.

 

Jongin turned his head towards him. “You look cute in that jacket. I only caught you staring because I wanted to steal glances at you, too,” he confessed, smiling sweetly. “Also, don't worry about being underdressed. We’re not going somewhere extremely fancy.”

 

“Then why are you dressed so nicely?”

 

Jongin faced forward again with a shy smile. “I wanted to impress you; I know your first impression on me isn’t too good.”

 

Kyungsoo wanted to tell him that Jongin has long overwritten that terrible impression with his incessant and somewhat endearing texting, but the younger yelled out in excitement once they turned around the corner, making Kyungsoo jump up and flinch back in surprise. “Over there!”

 

Kyungsoo followed the direction where Jongin was pointing at and saw a restaurant called Viva Polo — he’d heard of it before, it’s an Italian restaurant. It was featured on an INSIDER Food video at one point and he thought he’d give it a try one day.

 

They went inside and soon enough, they were seated. After looking through the menu, Kyungsoo decided to get the Crab Pomodoro pasta and Jongin decided to get Gorgonzola Cheese pizza which came with honey garlic dipping sauce. They got their food in no time and began digging in.

 

“It’s good,” Kyungsoo stated after his first bite.  

 

“Really?” Jongin asked, expression brightening up. “I picked a good place, right?”

 

Kyungsoo nodded, forking another twirl of pasta into his mouth.

 

“Wanna have a slice?” Jongin asked, holding up a piece that he took from the pie. Kyungsoo didn’t reply fast enough, so Jongin set it down on an extra plate and nudged it toward Kyungsoo. “Dip it, it tastes good in the sauce.”

 

Kyungsoo nodded in gratitude, then paused eating. He felt like he should offer his food, too. “Wanna try some too?” he asked, pointing at his food.

 

“Sure,” Jongin answered.

 

Kyungsoo twirled his pasta, then stabbed a big piece of crab. He gestured to Jongin to pass him his plate so that he could put it down there, but became bewildered when the younger pulled his plate farther away instead.

 

Jongin pouted, then opened his mouth wide. “Ahhhhhh~”

 

Kyungsoo couldn't believe this, he's never had to deal with someone acting so cutely directly towards him, so he had no choice but to react with an unamused expression.

 

“Ahhhhhhh~” Jongin pointed at his mouth and started whining.

 

Kyungsoo pressed his lips into a thin line and gave in, feeding Jongin the pasta. After he took his bite and Kyungsoo withdrew his fork back, Jongin had the biggest smile on his face. “Thank you, hyung,” the younger said, causing Kyungsoo to huff awkwardly in response.

 

A month ago, Kyungsoo would have never imagined sitting in an Italian restaurant with the annoying boy who made him want to rip his own hair out from asking ten million stupid questions during bio lecture. He also never would have imagine _enjoying_ spending time with said annoying boy.

 

“You…” Kyungsoo suddenly said, grabbing Jongin’s attention. “Why did you keep acting like that during the lecture? I had such a wrong and bad impression of you…” he muttered the last part.

 

Jongin shrugged, picking up another slice of pizza. “To be honest, it was on purpose. I had confidence in my own studying skills, so I decided to hold back the rest of the class. When testing came around, everyone would get low scores except for a select few.”

 

It was like thunder had struck Kyungsoo. “I take it back, you're still under a bad impression,” he deadpanned.

 

“Why? What I didn't wasn't so bad, especially since Dr. Kang decided to drop the first exam scores,” Jongin said casually. “I know people in Seoul University who do worse to sabotage each other’s grades.”

 

“How? How can it be worse?”

 

“So there was this girl that missed a couple of lectures because she was sick, so she asked her friend to take notes for her. Her friend purposely wrote her notes wrong, so that the girl would get the answers on the test incorrect!”

 

Kyungsoo was gonna protest, but Jongin continued, “There are also people who give out their outlines to those who are too lazy to make it themselves. So this one person made an outline on a completely different chapter, and some people didn’t even realize and just studied from it. When test day came around, they had no idea what kind of questions they were looking at.”

 

Kyungsoo frowned. “You don’t have to be like those kind of people though.”

 

“I stopped asking questions like that because I know _you_ don't like it,” Jongin whined. Kyungsoo realized that he did it cutely, with puppy-dog eyes and pouty lips. Usually he’d find this kind of stuff annoying, especially if it was Jongdae doing it, but he found himself giving in again.

 

“Okay, okay. Acknowledged,” Kyungsoo sighed. “As long as you don’t do it anymore.”

 

“There's also another reason other than that, and I guess it's less evil…”

 

“What is it?”

 

“I can't tell you. Secret,” Jongin whispered playfully.

 

“Ah, what is this? Are you five?”

 

“Anyways, hyung, you can even come with me to Dr. Kang’s office hours. I managed to snag a spot and she’s really helpful if she likes you,” Jongin offered. “If you come with me, she’ll probably like you.”

 

Kyungsoo thanked him and said he’ll probably take him up on that. They finished their food and Jongin even insisted on paying for Kyungsoo’s order, making him feel embarrassed. He’s the older one, so he should be taking responsibility and paying, but Jongin was too adamant.

 

“You can pay for the ice cream,” Jongin said with a cute smile and a wink. On those conditions, Kyungsoo relented.

 

They exited the restaurant, and Jongin took the lead to go to what Kyungsoo assumed was the ice cream place where he was going to pay. What surprised him when he walked into the Baskin Robbins shop was that he saw a familiar-looking tall, skinny blonde guy.

 

“Yo,” Oh Sehun greeted when he saw Jongin walking in through the door. Kyungsoo followed behind sheepishly, because last time he saw his friend, it wasn’t left off on a very good note. Sehun probably doesn’t like him for what he did to Jongin.

 

“What do you want to get?” Jongin asked and Kyungsoo pretended to preoccupy himself with looking at the different flavors behind the glass. He knows what he wants, he always knows what he wants, he always gets the mint chocolate chip, but he just doesn’t want to make eye contact with Sehun right now.

 

“Mint chocolate chip…” Kyungsoo told him. Jongin didn’t ask why he was whispering it to him instead of just telling Sehun, so he just turned to his friend and told him both their orders.

 

When Kyungsoo took out his wallet, Jongin stopped him and shook his head.

 

“You said I was gonna pay.”

 

“It’s free since Sehun works here,” Jongin explained. “I always come during his shifts to get free ice cream.”

 

“You scammed me again,” Kyungsoo said in disbelief, as Jongin laughed.

 

Sehun handed them their ice cream, and before he turned to his next customers, he gave Kyungsoo an amiable smile. “Enjoy your date,” he said, no malice detected. Maybe Kyungsoo was worried for nothing, but he’s still a little intimidated by the broad shoulders and the circumstances in which they met.

 

Jongin and Kyungsoo found a table to sit at and began digging into their ice cream. Just like how they did in Viva Polo with their food, they exchanged flavors to let each other taste.

 

“I got it,” Jongin suddenly stated as if he had an epiphany. Kyungsoo raised his eyebrow out of confusion, because Jongin really said that out of the blue.

 

“Even if I’m the sweetest and the coolest, my heart melts for you,” Jongin said, holding up his ice cream. Before Kyungsoo could groan at the pun, Jongin continued, “so because of that, please take care of my heart.”

  


The day after that date, Kyungsoo told himself that he wouldn’t let himself get distracted anymore until after the next test. That meant no watching movies at night, no reccing those movies to Jongin, no texting Jongin, no going on dates with Jongin, no nothing with Jongin as a distraction.

 

Whenever he was home, he’d sit himself down on his desk and read the textbook until the lines blurred together and he found himself not comprehending the sentences he’d read three times over. Once test day drew nearer, he switched to online outlines and study guides as a review for everything he’s read.

 

Walking into the hall on test day, Kyungsoo found himself even more nervous than the first time, which wasn’t a good sign at all. He felt as if he’s done everything he could to prepare for the test, but at the same time, he could’ve done more.

 

— What a terrible feeling.

 

He was already seated with his scantron filled out. There were still ten minutes left until the test started, so people were still walking in. Jongdae was seated two seats away from him again, and Chanyeol and Baekhyun were seated in front of them. Kyungsoo looked around nervously to see if Jongin had already come into the auditorium without him seeing. After a few more minutes, Kyungsoo could feel people seating themselves behind him.

 

“Hyung!” Kyungsoo heard as he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and was met with Jongin’s smile. Sehun was seated two seats next to Jongin, right behind Jongdae. “Good luck! You didn’t ignore me for two weeks just to do poorly on this test,” the younger teased him, then lightly squeezed his shoulder in encouragement. As Jongin sat back, Kyungsoo turned around to face forward, waiting for his impending doom.

 

“We will not administer the test until everyone is seated,” an instructor warned. “You’re the ones wasting your own time — less time to take the test.”

 

Kyungsoo internally groaned. He justed wanted to get this thing over with but people were being annoying.

 

When the test was finally distributed, just having the booklet in front of him made him he feel as if he was drowning under the pressure.

 

_“The clock has started. You may begin.”_

  


“What the _fuck_.”

 

“What? What is it?” Jongdae asked, alarmed enough to turn his head away from his game.

 

_66/100_

 

This cursed number stared back at Kyungsoo and it wasn’t going to go anywhere no matter how much he rubbed his eyes in disbelief. It was only 6 points higher than his first exam??? He couldn’t believe it when he felt as if the second test was a little bit easier???

 

“I’m going to cry.”

 

“What happened?” Jongdae asked worriedly.

 

“Test scores are up.”

 

“Oh shit,” the older said, immediately pausing his game to pull up his scores. After a moment or two, he saw what he got. “Oh, ayyyy!”

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened. That reaction sounded _good_.

 

“What’d you get?” Kyungsoo asked.

 

“I got an 88!”

 

Kyungsoo couldn’t help it if it was rude, but his mouth hung open in disbelief. “How in God’s name did you get an 88? All you did during lectures was play games!!”

 

“Hey! I can be smart when I want to! Besides, I told you — lecture is useless,” Jongdae said indignantly. “Why, what did you get?”

 

“I don’t know anymore,” Kyungsoo groaned. “I think I need to drop this class.”

 

“What?! Did you do that badly?” Jongdae asked in disbelief. “Did you fail?”

 

Kyungsoo shook his head. Technically, he didn’t fail, but his score was low enough that he might as well have. This second test was the one chance he had to save himself. Now, he felt as if his only option was to drop the class or credit/no credit.

 

When Jongin arrived to class, he didn’t go to his usual spot in the middle section; instead, he went straight to the left section where Kyungsoo and Jongdae were sitting. Kyungsoo was sitting in the seat at the edge of the row and Jongdae was sitting right next to him, so Jongin stood in the row until Kyungsoo noticed him.

 

“Oh, Jongin, you’re here?”

 

“Hey, hyung, can you move down one seat? I wanna sit next to you,” the younger asked happily.

 

“What about Sehun? Don’t you usually sit with him?” Kyungsoo asked. His gaze moved to Jongin’s friend, who was still sitting in the middle section.

 

“Sehun wants to stay there because he says he sees better from the middle. I actually wanted to move here a while ago, but he was reluctant to let me go. I managed to sneak away today, though,” Jongin explained.

 

Kyungsoo always sat at the end of the row, because he usually bolted for the train station at the end of the lesson, but he figured that he should let Jongin sit there. It’d be weird to tell Jongdae to move down one seat and push him off to the side.

 

“You know test scores were posted, right?” Kyungsoo asked once Jongin was seated.

 

The younger nodded, then asked, “How’d you do?”

 

Kyungsoo shook his head. He hadn’t expected what came next, but he felt as if his eyes were burning. He immediately turned away from Jongin because he didn’t want the younger to see him crying, but letting Jongdae see wasn’t that much better.

 

“Kyungsoo! What’s wrong?” Jongdae asked worriedly.

 

That just made Kyungsoo want to cry even more. All the stress that he’d been trying to ignore just kept building up and finally caught up to him. He pulled at his sleeves and quickly swiped at his eyes before he could let anyone else see his moment of weakness even more.

 

“Hyung, do you want a hug?” Jongin asked earnestly, genuinely wanting to comfort him. Of course, Kyungsoo shook his head, but that didn’t stop Jongin from putting an arm around his shoulders. The arm of the chair was digging uncomfortably into his side, but he didn’t care, he just wanted Kyungsoo to feel better. “I don’t know what you got exactly, but just know that it isn’t the end of the world. You can do better next time, okay? Don’t blame yourself too much. I’ll help you, too.”

 

Those words didn’t magically make Kyungsoo feel completely at ease, but Jongin’s effort made him feel at least a little better.

 

Before the lecture started, Dr. Kang announced how happy she was with the second exam results. “You all are the ones who worked harder, I didn’t make the test easier. It was all through _your_ effort! So congrats to you all for raising the class average significantly!”

 

That made Kyungsoo feel even shittier. He had a lot of thinking to do about his next plan of action. He felt especially guilty whenever thinking about how he blamed Jongin for his grade on the first exam, because maybe it was really just the fault in his own efforts. Whether Jongin had asked all those stupid questions or not, he probably would have ended up with that grade anyway. He had hated Jongin for nothing.

 

When the lecture was over, Jongin stopped Kyungsoo before he left for the subway.

 

“Let me walk you to the station,” he offered. “I have to wait awhile for practice to start anyway.”

 

Kyungsoo didn’t feel like arguing or declining tonight, in fact, he felt relieved that he didn’t have to make that ten-minute trek alone. Jongin tried hard to contain his excitement of not being rejected this time, because to him, this was one step closer to Kyungsoo’s heart.

 

“Everything will be okay,” Jongin tried comforting him. “Don’t give up yet. You still have the lab component, the third exam, and the final. You can rack up some big points from those and you’ll be fine.”

 

When they got to the subway station, Jongin waved Kyungsoo goodbye as the older was about to disappear down the steps.

 

“Goodnight, hyung! When you get home, make sure you eat, okay? Don’t be too sad and make sure you sleep well!! Get home safely!!”

 

Kyungsoo muttered a _goodnight_ to Jongin as well, then bolted to the turnstiles before Jongin could discover his fluttering heart.

 

It took about a week for Kyungsoo to return back to his normal self; during that time, he seemed to be internally sulking and it bothered Jongdae and hurt Jongin’s heart. Jongin would always try to reassure the older that he’ll help in whatever way he could, which caused Kyungsoo to become suspicious.

 

“Why, what did you get?”

 

“I—uh,” Jongin said, starting to feel a cold sweat.

 

“You're always offering to help, I don't think you'd do that if you didn't do well.”

 

“I got… uh…”

 

“Spit it out, I won’t get mad.”

 

“... 94…”

 

“...”

 

Kyungsoo ended up sulking even longer after that.

  


`Kyungsoo: Jongin, what the hell are you sending me?`

 

Kyungsoo stared at the link that the younger just messaged to him, not knowing what to make of it. He’s seen Jongin scrolling through pictures like this, but he never bothered to send them to him until now.

 

_“Edgy Memes for Edgy Teens”_

 

`Jongin: ㅋㅋㅋ IT’S SO FUNNY`

`Jongin: I had to show you`

`Jongin: did you laugh?`

 

`Kyungsoo: No.`

 

`Jongin: AWW :(`

`Jongin: sad reaccs only`

`Jongin: ok, how about this?`

`Jongin:`

  


 

Kyungsoo looked at the link where this picture came from.

 

_“Pets in Predicaments”_

 

`Kyungsoo: Hey, you should send a picture of Monggu to that page, because he has you as his owner`

 

`Jongin: SHUT YOUR HELL MOUTH, IM THE BEST DOG OWNER EVER`

 

`Kyungsoo: are you bored or something?`

 

`Jongin: no`

`Jongin: I just wanted to talk to you`

`Jongin: aaaaaaand`

`Jongin: yeah I’m bored`

`Jongin: I need to ask you something tho`

 

`Kyungsoo: what is it`

 

`Jongin: I’m not coming to class today can you take notes for me`

 

`Kyungsoo: why aren’t you coming to class?`

 

`Jongin: i just don’t feel like it`

 

`Kyungsoo: you’re telling me that’s your reason and you want me to take notes for you??? get your lazy ass to class rn`

 

`Jongin: Lazy` `there is no` ` to b lazy` ` I don't `` know A N Y T H I N G about being lazy ` `I give`  `whenever I can, `` is 4 the weak™, y'all ``sleep` `while I RECOVER ` `all`  `do is`  `#blessed grind till I`   `is life ` `Monggu 88:12 `

 

`Kyungsoo: I h8 ur ass, I’m blocking you`

 

`Jongin: WHAT`

`Jongin: NO`

`Jongin: HYUNG WAIT`

`Jongin: WAIT`

`Jongin: WAIT`

`Jongin: seriously can you take notes for me`

`Jongin: I’m excused from class because i have a game!!`

 

`Kyungsoo: o`

 

`Jongin: yeah you should come to a game sometime`

 

`Kyungsoo: I’ll think about it`

 

`Jongin: okay thats good enough for me`

`Jongin: so anyways`

`Jongin: yes, I’m really not being lazy`

`Jongin: pls take notes for me ok love you hyung`

 

`Kyungsoo: ok good luck with your game`

  


When Dr. Kang said that the semester was going to go fast, she _meant_ that the semester was going to go _fast_. The third exam was already in a week, and Kyungsoo had just recovered from his second test scores.

 

Jongin replaced his planning for food dates with study dates instead; he couldn’t get Kyungsoo to go to any more restaurants with him after seeing his test scores, but the older did agree to go to a library. Over the weekend and during days they ended class early, Jongin and Kyungsoo sat down in a secluded corner of a library with their PDF formatted textbook on a laptop and a pencil and paper to jot down important notes.

 

But everyone has a breaking point, and Jongin was about to go crazy doing nothing but studying with Kyungsoo.

 

“Skip psych class for me,” Jongin whined. “Let’s do something other than bio for once, hm?”

 

“What are we gonna do? Are you gonna sit me down and show me more memes?” Kyungsoo asked seriously.

 

“… Maybe…” Kyungsoo sighed and started to walk towards his psych class again, but Jongin rushed over in front of him to block his path. “Okay, okay, I was just joking. I don’t have anything in mind right now since our lecture is right after.”

 

“It doesn't matter, you don't have to think of anything because _I'm_ a _good student_ who is going to go to class,” Kyungsoo said, perhaps implying that Jongin was a hooligan for even thinking about skipping.

 

“Hey! I'm a good student, too, but I can also be a good boyfriend,” he retorted playfully, not missing the opportunity to wink.

 

“If you’re such a good boyfriend, then you should just go to the lecture with me.”

 

“But then we can’t do anything in there,” Jongin whined, then realized something. “Wait, you’re agreeing that we’re boyfriends, right?”

 

“You never really asked, but sure,” Kyungsoo answered mischievously, trying to be lowkey about it.

  
“Alright!” Jongin exclaimed, then put his arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “Going to your lecture isn’t such a bad idea. It’s better than spending no time at all with you,” he shrugged.

 

— — —

 

“That was so boring.”

 

“Really? I thought that was one of the more interesting lectures,” Kyungsoo admitted. The two of them had just walked out of the older’s psych lecture, and Jongin wasn’t pleased at all. They were now making their way straight to their bio lecture.

 

“There’s no point in attending that class,” Jongin continued to complain. “The professor just reads off of the slides _which_ _he sends to you all after class anyway_.”

 

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “I still go just in case he decides to mention something that can’t be found on his slides and has the potential to show up on his tests.”

 

“An hour and 15 minutes versus 3 points on a test,” Jongin gestured as if his hands were weighing the two options on a scale.

 

“If I don’t get above 90 on my next psych test, it will be all your fault that I’ll have to take the optional final,” Kyungsoo accused. “It’s gonna be on the same day as the bio final.”

 

“You can still get a 90 without going to class! You’re smart, I believe in you!”

 

They entered the bio lecture hall and walked to their seats, Jongdae already seated there. He was three seats down, he had been saving the spot next to him for Kyungsoo and the aisle seat for Jongin.

 

“Oh, you guys are here?” Jongdae greeted, without looking up from his laptop screen. Kyungsoo looked over to see him playing another facebook game called Everwing, so he didn’t even bother replying. He knew Jongdae had already blocked off his ears to any sound other than his game after asking that question.

 

The lesson was going fine, but when Dr. Kang suddenly moved onto the next chapter in the middle of the lecture, Kyungsoo suddenly felt a wave of anxiety hit him.

 

“Shit, it can’t happen again,” he muttered, talking about his low scores.

 

“What was that?” Jongdae asked, briefly looking up from his game.

 

Jongin was completely focused on the professor, or so Kyungsoo thought, so he leaned over towards Jongdae to answer him. “I’m just really scared for the next test.”

 

“Aww, Kyung, you’re so cute,” Jongdae cooed, poking the younger’s squishy cheek. “You’ll be fine, just study harder.”

 

It was like an alarm went off in Jongin’s head after a radar detected something it was not supposed to. He had just seen in from the corner of his eye, but when he saw Jongdae’s finger come in contact with Kyungsoo’s face, he _snapped_.

 

“Hyung, switch seats with me,” Jongin asked in a low voice. Kyungsoo still had an annoyed expression after swatting Jongdae’s hand away, but when he turned to his boyfriend, he became confused.

 

“Why would I do that?”

 

“Just because,” Jongin answered.

 

“But why?”

 

“Just do it for me.”

 

“If you’re not gonna tell me a proper reason, then no,” Kyungsoo dismissed. Discouraged by the refusal, Jongin’s eyes flitted from Kyungsoo to Jongdae and then back to Kyungsoo before he made up his mind.

 

He stood up with his laptop still in his hands and suddenly, Kyungsoo’s vision of the lecture slide show was blocked — Jongin was making his way past Kyungsoo. He then propped himself onto the seats’ armrests between Jongdae and Kyungsoo.

 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Kyungsoo hissed. The people behind Jongin began complaining because now he was covering _their_ view of the slide show. “Jongin, you’re blocking everyone behind you.”

 

“I’m sitting where I want to,” Jongin responded in a stubborn and childish tone.

 

Due to the unrest and confusion in their section, Dr. Kang stopped her lesson. “Jongin, what are you doing?” she asked in front of the whole class. Kyungsoo groaned at all the attention attracted to them — he had no choice now, but to get up and sit in Jongin’s seat.

 

Once he left his seat, Jongin slid down onto it. Jongin was now properly (and successfully) seated between Jongdae and Kyungsoo. “Thanks, hyung,” he smiled, then raised his hand and announced to the professor and the people behind him, “Sorry about that! Couldn’t see well!”

 

Jongdae looked at him in confusion, so Jongin scolded him, ”Just play your game as always, don’t mind anything.”

 

“If you couldn’t see properly, you could’ve just said so,” Kyungsoo muttered. “I would have moved or even given you the notes.”

 

Jongin shrugged, absolutely smug with himself. “Thanks, hyung, it’s all good now,” he said, not even talking about the bio lecture. He was a little too happy about serving as a barrier between Jongdae and Kyungsoo; he knew what he was feeling was childish jealousy that he let get the best of him.

 

On impulse, Jongin gently pinched Kyungsoo’s cheek as a sign of affection and by then, Kyungsoo had a grasp of what was going on.

 

The best part was that Kyungsoo didn’t smack his hand away.

  


With the third test out of the way, all Kyungsoo had to worry about was the final. He was doing completely fine in his other classes, but bio was dragging him down and it was dragging him down _hard_.

 

He got a 76/100 on the third exam — it was improvement, but he needed at least an 85 to save himself from failing. He should’ve been happy with the score being higher than usual, but to him, it really wasn’t much. Despite being so near the end of the semester, he was still having thoughts about dropping the class.

 

 _‘All that time and effort for nothing_ …’ he thought, then let out a deep sigh.

 

“Why are you sighing like that?” Jongin asked worriedly.

 

“I’m really thinking about dropping out of bio,” Kyungsoo answered, letting out his frustrations.

 

“Isn’t it way too late for that? Just stick it out for the rest of the semester,” the younger tried to encourage, not really knowing what else to say.

 

“My transcript is _ruined_ ,” Kyungsoo moaned, letting his head sink onto the table they were seated at. “My 3.9 GPA is dead… Jongin, I’m _failing_ right now. The best I can probably get right now is a D and that’s practically failing. I calculated my final grade, taking into account the highest grade I can get from the lab and final and it only pulls my grade up to a D.”

 

“You can always credit/no credit,” Jongin suggested, trying to be a little helpful. “You can always retake the class in the summer, it won’t be the end of the world—”

 

“It’ll be the end of my world,” Kyungsoo deadpanned.

 

“Dramatic much?”

 

“Sorry, I’m just not used to this,” the older admitted. “I’ve never failed a test, much less a whole class. I just really don’t know what to do.”

 

“You still have the final and the lab component to incorporate into your final grade,” Jongin said, reaching out to hold Kyungsoo’s hand. He began to rub his thumb across Kyungsoo’s fingers in comfort as he said, “Our study dates also seem to be helping. If we keep it up, you’ll probably get an even higher grade on the final.”

 

Kyungsoo nodded weakly, returning to his laptop to resume his chem homework.

 

While sitting on the bus on his way home, Kyungsoo thought about how miserable he was because of bio, but he also figured that he’d be wallowing in that misery alone if it weren’t for Jongin. How Jongin manages to juggle having high grades, his sports, and time for Kyungsoo? He’ll never know, but he was extremely grateful. The least he could do was…

 

`Kyungsoo: I’m going to your next game so work hard at practice `

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t know how loud Jongin squealed when he saw that text, and he doesn't ever have to know.

  


When he first arrived at the field, Kyungsoo inevitably got lost. It was a given, because he’s never been to a sports event like this before so he had no idea what he was doing and where he was going. The field was huge and there were about nine of them in the entire park, he kind of started to wish that he didn’t go.

 

He went straight after his history class alone, since Jongin had left with his team to get there early to prepare and warm up. He almost got lost on public transportation, and now that he got to the field, he managed to get lost there too, it was just one problem after another.

 

After wandering around, he finally spotted players wearing his light blue and white school colors and trudged his way over to the field. Kyungsoo knew that Jongin’s season was almost over, but this would be the first time he’d see him in his uniform.

 

_Fuck, he looked so attractive._

 

Jongin was warming up, passing the ball with Sehun, so he didn’t notice that Kyungsoo had arrived. Kyungsoo also caught sight of Chanyeol standing at a goal, wearing gloves and a uniform with inverted colors from the rest of the team. From that, Kyungsoo deduced Baekhyun might be somewhere in the crowd.

 

“Kyungsoo!!” he heard that loud familiar voice call out as if on cue. He followed the sound and recognized Baekhyun, waving at him and patting the spot right next to him on the bleachers. He waved back before making his way over.

 

“Hi, Baekhyun,” he greeted before sitting down. “How are you?”

 

“Dead on the inside, but still alive somehow,” Baekhyun joked. “I've never seen you at a game before! Did you come because you suddenly felt some school spirit or are you cheering for someone specific?”

 

Kyungsoo felt his cheeks redden and he prayed Baekhyun wouldn't call him out on it. It just occurred to him that he never really told anyone that he and Jongin were together. “Uhhh, you know Jongin?”

 

“Jongin? The freshman? You're here for him?” Baekhyun asked, surprised. “I didn't know you guys were close.”

 

“Uhhh, we've been dating for a few months, actually, and we just became official like a few weeks ago,” Kyungsoo informed him. Baekhyun widened his eyes in shock at this information, so he continued. “He's been sitting with me during bio lecture for a while now, I think you're too distracted by Chanyeol to notice.”

 

“That sounds about right,” Baekhyun said, not a single ounce of shame detected. “That would also explain why I'm not doing so hot in that class. It's Chanyeol’s fault.”

 

“How badly are you doing?”

 

“Oh, I'm definitely failing. The only reason why I haven't been kicked out of the class is because I sit behind Minseok during tests,” Baekhyun answered confidently, and Kyungsoo couldn't do anything but shut his mouth because he didn't understand people like Baekhyun. “Anyways, you came to a good match. The opposing team is our biggest rival, it's going to be a super close game.”

 

“Oh, so we don't know who's going to win today?”

 

“Nope!”

 

A few minutes before the match officially started, the team stopped warming up and that was when Jongin finally scanned the stands. Once he saw Kyungsoo, his whole face lit up and he waved vigorously; Kyungsoo couldn't help but smile, wave back, and give a thumbs up for good luck.

 

When the game began, Kyungsoo didn’t realize how so into it he’d get — he thought these types of things bored him, which was why he didn’t really want to come in the first place. Initially, he didn’t want to cheer at all. He awkwardly sat in the crowd, trying his best to remain unseen and unrecognized by anyone else in the bleachers. He thought that shouting out loud was outside of his element and it would be embarrassing.

 

However, as soon as Jongin had possession of the ball, Kyungsoo shot up from his seat and starting jumping up and down, screaming like a mad man for his boyfriend to score. He paid no mind to the stares he got, because he was too happy that Jongin managed to strike the ball into the goal. It was only when Jongin looked up to the stands at him with a huge smile and pointed at him victoriously that Kyungsoo realized what he just did and he sat back down sheepishly, blush creeping up on his face.

 

“Amazing,” Baekhyun commented, staring while Kyungsoo cautiously sat back down. “You remind me of when I first went to Chanyeol’s games.”

 

“I'm not usually like this.”

 

“Why not? It was cute!”

 

“Shut up.”

 

— — —

 

It was after the game that Kyungsoo and Jongin were walking back to the train station together. Despite Kyungsoo’s protests because he wanted Jongin to rest at home as soon as possible after a triumphant and rigorous match, Jongin insisted that he should take Kyungsoo home. They compromised that Jongin could go halfway. He didn’t wanna agree, because he was just too happy and grateful that Kyungsoo even showed up.

 

Jongin took hold of Kyungsoo’s hand and started swinging it as they walked. “I’m really glad to you came,” Jongin told him sincerely.

 

“Well, watching soccer wasn’t as bad as I thought,” Kyungsoo admitted, but slyly added on, “I think watching swimming is more interesting though.”

 

“Shall I become a swimmer then?” the younger asked playfully. “I know freestyle! I’ll join the team for you.”

 

“Ay, forget it,” Kyungsoo smacked his arm with his free hand. “One sport is enough; you gotta manage your time.”

 

“Why? My GPA is pretty good so far.”

 

“Stop bragging, it’s only your first year,” Kyungsoo scolded him. “Anyways, congrats on your win. I heard that team was a little hard to beat, but you and your team came through.”

 

“It was a fun match,” Jongin said as they made their way down the stairs to the subway entrance. “You don’t have to come to another one for now, because the rest of the teams we’re facing are boring.”

 

Kyungsoo shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant about it. “I’ll come whenever I can.”  

 

They hopped into the train when it arrived on the platform, only to find that there was one more seat left. Kyungsoo gripped Jongin’s arm and dragged him to sit down.

 

“Hyung, you should sit,” Jongin insisted.

 

“You're the one who ran across a field for 2 hours straight while I sat down the whole time, why should I sit?” Kyungsoo asked. “Stay seated.”

 

“I want to be the cool and caring one,” Jongin whined.

 

“You're saying I'm cool, right?” Kyungsoo joked. “Besides, I don't want you to be jostled around when the train fills with more people.”

 

“But then you're the one who's going to be pushed around,” the younger frowned, then suggested, “You can sit on my lap.”

 

Kyungsoo could feel his ears turning furiously red; he had to tell himself that it was not a good idea, especially with Jongin still in his soccer uniform.

 

“No thanks, you're all sweaty and smelly,” Kyungsoo declined, trying to cover up. “I'll also sit when you get off the train.”

 

Except Jongin didn't get off when it was his stop -- before the train doors closed, Kyungsoo tried to push him out, telling him to go home, but Jongin resisted and insisted on bringing Kyungsoo to his stop even if meant the long way home for him.

 

“You're impossible,” Kyungsoo huffed as Jongin grinned triumphantly when the train doors closed. Many onlookers watched on amusedly at the scene in front of them, but the two didn't even notice the racket they caused.

 

“You like me anyway,” Jongin retorted childishly.

 

“You told me only halfway! Stop scamming me!”

 

Jongin pinched his boyfriend’s cheek, saying even though he was gullible, he's still cute, earning him a punch in the stomach.

 

Kyungsoo wanted Jongin to stay in the station and switch trains to go back home, but the younger brushed him off and said he had his mind set on taking him all the way home.

 

“You don’t really think, you know that?” Kyungsoo scolded Jongin as they walked.

 

Jongin didn’t have enough money on his card to take the bus to Kyungsoo’s house _and_ back home, and Kyungsoo didn’t have enough money to pay for both of them so they had to walk _all the way_ to his house. Because of this, Kyungsoo became grumpy, but Jongin insisted that it was a nice night to walk anyway.

 

“I told you this already, but I’m really, really happy you came to my game,” Jongin said, intertwining his fingers with Kyungsoo’s.

 

“Why are you so happy?” the older asked, genuinely curious. “It was really no big deal. I’ll come to another if you really want. I’ll even go to the rest of your games if I’m able to.”

 

“That would make me the happiest,” Jongin confessed. “It’s because no one ever comes to cheer me on during games, since my parents stay home and my friends are on the field playing with me. Seeing Baekhyun cheering in the stands for Chanyeol during every game made me feel a little envious, so I worked really hard and played my best to give you a reason to cheer for me, too.”

 

Kyungsoo frowned, “If you liked me cheering, it’s a shame because that was a one time thing, I’m never doing that again. It’s embarrassing.”

 

Jongin smiled, understandingly, “It’s okay, I think you being there in the stands as moral support will be enough.” Kyungsoo immediately regretted saying that, because of course Jongin, his sweet and caring boyfriend, will be okay with whatever he did. Deep down, he also knew he was talking bullshit and that at the next game, he’ll probably be jumping up and down and cheering for Jongin at the top of his lungs again.

 

When they finally reached Kyungsoo’s house, Jongin refused to let go of his boyfriend’s hand. Kyungsoo was being mean at first and tried to playfully wrench his hand out of Jongin’s hold, but the younger’s grip was as strong as titanium.

 

“Do you want to come inside?” Kyungsoo asked. “You can eat dinner. My parents might be home, though.”

 

Jongin crinkled his nose and shook his head. “I can’t meet them looking and smelling like this,” he replied, gesturing at this soccer uniform. “Next time, for sure!”

 

With that, maybe Jongin should have said goodbye and left, but he found himself staring lovingly at his boyfriend.

 

“I’m so lucky to have you.”

 

Kyungsoo smiled and wrapped his arms around him, not really caring if his parents suddenly walk out and see them.

 

Jongin continued to look down upon Kyungsoo’s face which was bathed in the light of the street lamps and the moon. At this point, with Jongin staring straight into his eyes, Kyungsoo’s heart was beating like crazy, something he knew only the younger could make him feel.

 

“How lucky do you think you are to have such wide eyes that can only look at me?” Jongin asked playfully.

 

“Very lucky, because they’re wide enough to also stare at a textbook for long periods of time,” Kyungsoo joked back.

 

His boyfriend continued, “How lucky are you to get both heart shaped lips and a heart shaped smile despite millions of genetic combinations?”

 

Kyungsoo scoffed and laughed at how much of a nerd Jongin was being, but Jongin kept a straight face and was being completely serious.

 

“Hyung, can I conduct an experiment right outside your house?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Can I test out how your lips feel like on mine? It’s for science.”

 

Kyungsoo internally groaned because Jongin was being his super cheesy and nerdy self, and he decided to take it upon himself to make him stop. “Just shut up and kiss me.”

 

Jongin placed his hand on Kyungsoo’s cheek and leaned forward until his lips met Kyungsoo’s. Their eyes closed as they felt their lips on each other’s. The kiss rendered the two breathless until Kyungsoo was the one who pulled away, leaving Jongin dazed.

 

“Wow.”

 

“The experiment results are in, I can conclude that my hypothesis has been proven and is correct.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Do Kyungsoo’s lips are the softest and the best to kiss. It’s a proven fact, sorry, I don’t make the rules.”

 

Kyungsoo slapped Jongin in the arm. “You’re such a nerd.”

 

“Then why do you keep calling me stupid?”

 

Another _smack!_

 

Jongin pouted, “Why are you hitting me? It’s hurting my feelings… I told you to take care of my heart!”

 

“I want to be a physician, not a cardiologist,” Kyungsoo deadpanned. Jongin laughed at his dry humor, finally letting go of his hand to clap — a laughing habit of his.

 

“Things in life change,” Jongin wittily responded. “But if you are really set on being a physician, you can just be my personal cardiologist!”

 

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s non-stop flirting. “Go home already,” he said, shooing him already.

 

Jongin laughed again, knowing full well Kyungsoo acts indifferent like this even though he lowkey doesn’t want him to leave. “Okay, okay, I’ll get going. Goodnight, hyung! Sweet dreams,” he said before waving and turning to walk away.

 

Kyungsoo wanted to wait and watch that Jongin made it all the way to the end of the block safely, but two houses down, Jongin came running back. Kyungsoo watched him, confused, until he was standing in front of him again.

 

“Did you forget something?” he asked the younger.

 

Without a word, Jongin quickly leaned forward to kiss Kyungsoo on the lips.

 

“I forgot your goodnight kiss,” he told him after pulling away. “Now I can go. Goodnight for real, hyung!”

 

Before Kyungsoo could scold him for being such a cheese wheel, Jongin ran away down the street. As Kyungsoo turned away from the gate and walked towards his house, he could feel his cheeks burning up and his lips tingling.

 

“Tch, cute dork.”

  


“How are you not having a panic attack?” Kyungsoo asked, the final being next week plaguing his mind. They were sitting at the table in Kyungsoo’s dining room, in the middle of a study session — the library’s white noise was too much of a distraction for Kyungsoo this time.

 

Jongin winced because he really didn't want to answer that question, but if he didn't, Kyungsoo would probably get mad at him; and if he was going to answer that, he was going to go all out.

 

“Hyung, no offense, but it's because I'm not in your situation,” Jongin admitted. Kyungsoo looked like he was about to shoot daggers at him through his eyes, so he continued, “To be honest, I'm impressed you're not having one mental breakdown after another.”

 

“Shut your mouth, no one asked you.”

 

Jongin pursed his lips to hold back saying that he really _did_ ask, but a cranky Kyungsoo was a scary Kyungsoo and he didn't want to upset his boyfriend any further.

 

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo immediately apologized. “It’s just, I’m so—” he paused to sigh, “I’m so stressed. You know how this final is worth 200 points, and Dr. Kang shoved 5 more chapters down our throats in the last week… You’ll be fine if you don’t do well, but I might end up having to take this class again, and I’ll be behind in my studies—”

 

“It’s okay, hyung, I understand,” the younger told him honestly. “School is stressful; you can’t be good at all subjects.”

 

Kyungsoo sighed again and ran his hands through his hair. He plastered his eyes back to the screen. Jongin saw the agony in Kyungsoo’s eyes as he plowed through line by line and decided to put an end to it.

 

“This won’t do,” Jongin tutted. “We need a new course of action.”

 

“Hm?” Kyungsoo lifted his head to look over his laptop and see what Jongin was going on about.

 

“How about this — I’ll ask you questions and then you answer them. This way, we can evaluate if you really are absorbing what you’re reading and if not, I’ll explain the answer to you in my own words. This way, both of us will be testing each other in a way.”

 

Kyungsoo thought about it and nodded. “Okay,” he agreed. “That sounds good.”

 

“Alright, then, first question,” Jongin started. “What are the advantages of sexual reproduction over asexual? As in, why would you reproduce sexually instead of asexually?”

 

“To produce novel genetic combinations that may have a survival advantage in a changed environment. When reproducing asexually, the offspring will have the same exact genetics as the parent while reproducing sexually will have more combinations of genes due to crossing over and independent assortment..”

 

Suddenly, Kyungsoo felt Jongin’s lips on his for a brief moment before the younger quickly pulled away. Kyungsoo was left stunned, staring at his boyfriend with wide eyes.

 

“What was that?”

 

Jongin laughed at Kyungsoo’s stupor. “Okay, next question,” he continued as if nothing happened, and Kyungsoo squinted at him suspiciously. “Can you name three out of the five points of Mendel’s Model?”

 

“Uhh, hold on I know this,” Kyungsoo started. “Genes do not blend together; each gamete contains one allele of each gene; and uhh…” he paused trying to remember one more, “Some alleles are dominant to others!”

 

Without another word, Jongin quickly pecked Kyungsoo on the lips again, leaving the older stunned once more.

 

“Kim Jongin!”

 

“What?”

 

“What do you think you're doing?!”

 

“Reward system!” Jongin grinned. “Every time you get a question right, you earn a kiss from me!”

 

“Who said I wanted that reward?” Kyungsoo asked seriously, then threatened, “I’m going to get the questions wrong on purpose now.”

 

The younger shrugged, “Guess we’ll just be stuck forever here then… well, it’s not such a bad thing for me; I get to spend forever with you.”

 

Kyungsoo pretended to gag and Jongin laughed at his boyfriend being so extra. “Can you believe that yesterday was our last lesson? Time flew by so fast… I remember in the beginning of the year, you hated me so much,” Jongin recalled as if it was a fond memory.

 

Kyungsoo almost choked on his own spit. “Hey, why are you bringing that up?”

 

Jongin turned nonchalantly. “It just shows how far we’ve come along. Who would’ve thought we’d be together like this right now if they saw us in the beginning of the year?”

 

“I only fell for you because you stopped asking those stupid questions,” Kyungsoo joked.

 

“You wouldn’t have noticed me if it weren’t for those stupid questions!!”

 

“True,” Kyungsoo admitted. “Why are you like this?”

 

“It’s my job as Do Kyungsoo’s boyfriend to be as extra as possible,” Jongin replied. Then he leaned forward, closing his eyes and sticking out his lips to make a kissy face.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“I answered the question correctly, you’re supposed to reward me,” Jongin replied without opening his eyes.

 

Instead, Kyungsoo lightly placed his fingers on Jongin’s lips and pushed his face away, causing the younger to yelp. “Stop fooling around, we got so off topic already. Ask me more bio questions that you think will show up on the test.”

 

Jongin pouted before looking at his textbook. “Since you don’t want the kisses, you won’t have extra motivation to get the questions right—”

 

“—Woah, woah, woah, who said I didn’t want to kisses?” Kyungsoo interrupted. “Maybe not after every question, but every ten, or even five, I get right is okay!”

 

Hearing that, Jongin brightened up like a child and happily searched the textbook for the next question.

  


“You ready, hyung?” Jongin asked, leaning forward in his seat and rubbing Kyungsoo’s shoulders as if he were an MMA fighter about to go into the ring. It wasn’t that far off though, because this final was going to be a bloody battle.

 

“To be honest, no,” Kyungsoo wheezed out. “I’m going to fail. I woke up this morning and panicked because I thought I was gonna be late, but it was 5 AM.”

 

Jongdae leaned over from his seat and said, “Yeah, finals does that to you. Not too late to credit/no credit though.” He pointed at the long ass line, which consisted of about half of the class and extended all throughout the auditorium.

 

Baekhyun turned around in his seat, “Kyungsoo, bro, if I’m not doing credit/no credit, then you shouldn’t either, what the heck?”

 

“It’s because you’re a reckless punk,” Chanyeol muttered from next to his boyfriend.

 

Nothing was happening due to waiting for the credit/no credit students to be taken care of, but Kyungsoo could already feel his heart pounding as if the test was already in front of him.

 

“We studied hard together, Kyungsoo,” Jongin assured him. “Just remember to trust your brain and you're going to be fine.”

 

“I need at least an 80, Jongin,” Kyungsoo whimpered. “An 80 will only get me a D.”

 

Jongdae stifled down a laugh and his temptation to say, “At least you'll still have Jongin’s D.” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what his best friend was thinking.

 

About 30 minutes later, the test administrator finally stood on stage and gave out directions. Kyungsoo almost hyperventilated as he received the test booklet, but he heard a voice behind him that hasn't spoken throughout this whole ordeal until now.

 

“Remember that this test doesn't determine your life,” Sehun told him sincerely. “Good luck,” the freshman said before leaning back into his seat.

 

Kyungsoo turned around to take one last look at Jongin, who shot him a wink and a reassuring smile. Kyungsoo nodded and then faced forward as the test administrator announced that there was no more talking allowed.

 

“Good luck on this final. You may begin.”

  


Walking out of the test felt like an out-of-body experience for Kyungsoo. He didn't even hear Jongin offer to take him to the subway station, but even without a reply, Jongin accompanied him anyway. It was like taking a zombie out for a while walk.

 

The thought that the course was finished took a while to register in Kyungsoo’s brain.

 

It's over.

 

It's over.

 

_It's over._

 

He couldn't really say he was free though, because he knew he'd be trapped under the guilt of his grade.

 

It was exactly why he made Jongin look at his test scores for him a week later.

 

“I can't look!!”

 

“Hyung, you have to eventually!!

 

“I really can live my life without looking,” Kyungsoo challenged.

 

Jongin tsked at his boyfriend before coming up with an ultimatum. “Okay, how about this? I'll look up your grades for you and then I'll tell you what you got.”

 

Kyungsoo pulled his lips back in a grimace.

 

“Sounds good?”

 

“I… guess…”

 

Kyungsoo gave him his username and password to log into his course portal. As Jongin typed them in, the older looked away and hid his eyes behind his hands.

 

“...”

 

“Why aren't you saying anything?” Kyungsoo demanded. “It's been a while since you logged in. Did I fail?”

 

“Umm,” Jongin hesitated. “Above 60 is passing, right?”

 

Kyungsoo removed his hands from his face, his eyes wide. “So I got in the sixties?!”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Fuuuuuuuuck my life,” Kyungsoo cursed. “Is it high sixties or low sixties?”

 

“It’s more of the middle…”

 

“But above or below 65?”

 

“... Below…”

 

Kyungsoo slowly facepalmed and Jongin hugged him. “It’s okay, you know life isn’t about grades. Sehun was even nice enough to tell you that before the test started.”

 

Kyungsoo didn’t even want to cry anymore — he was expecting this, so he felt more numb to the situation. He craned his neck over Jongin’s shoulder to officially check his grade.

 

64/100

 

“I can kiss becoming a doctor goodbye.”

 

“No, you’ll have other courses to bring your grade up. If you show improvement, schools will definitely consider you,” Jongin said, trying to encourage his boyfriend. “Don’t let this ruin your summer!”

 

“I definitely failed. I’m gonna have to go to summer school if I want to take orgo in the fall.”

 

“Oh? I can help you start making plans, but I still think you managed to snag a C or higher," Jongin reassured him. "How about checking your overall grade right now? ”

 

“N O!!!!!”

 

Jongin shot him a stern look before Kyungsoo hung his head and wordlessly turned the laptop towards himself.

 

“I already calculated it,” Kyungsoo grumbled out. “I don't know why you're making me check it when I already know it's gonna be D or an F,” he said, clicking on the _View Unofficial Transcript_ button.

 

“Well, getting a D or an F makes a huge difference,” Jongin told him.

 

“It doesn’t to me, but according to my calculations the most I could get is really a D.”

 

“Well, you calculated it wrong.”

 

_Introduction to Principles of Biology: B-_

 

Kyungsoo stared and stared and stared until he felt like his eyes were gonna pop out of their sockets. He couldn’t believe his eyes or his ears. He turned to his boyfriend, then back to the screen.

 

“Is this real life?”

 

“Yes, congrats hyung!! You didn't fail!!!”

 

“Oh my god.”

 

“Now I don’t have to deal with you being emo for the rest of the summer!!” the younger rejoiced.

 

“Oh my god.”

 

“Let’s celebrate! We can order your favorite noodles and I’ll pay—”

 

Kyungsoo cut him off by grabbing his face and pressing his lips to his. Jongin was completely taken aback, but once over his initial shock kissed back. Kyungsoo pulled away with a loud, “Mwah!” and smiled brightly at his boyfriend.

 

“Thank you, Jongin, thank you for everything you’ve done for me this semester,” he said sincerely, still smushing Jongin’s face with his hands.

 

For a moment, Jongin just stared, dazed and confused, but then his face contorted. His eyes slowly turned red and tears brimmed from them.

 

“Jongin, are you crying???”

 

“Hyung, this is the first time you’ve initiated a kiss,” Jongin sniffled. “These are happy tears!!”

 

“Are you serious?” Kyungsoo asked, trying to hold back his laughter. “You’re so ridiculous,” he said, wiping away his boyfriend’s tears and pecking him on the lips again.  

 

“I like you so much, hyung, you don’t even know how happy I am for you,” Jongin confessed. “After all that suffering in bio, we can finally enjoy our summer together to the fullest.”

 

Kyungsoo pretended to think, “Hmm, now that I think about it, a B- is not such a great grade…”

 

Jongin’s face fell. “Kyungsoo, please, you were just dying about the possibility of an F like 5 minutes ago.”

 

The older laughed, “I’m joking, I’m happy with my grade. I don’t know how I got it, but it’s really better than what I expected. Maybe Dr. Kang really did throw a curve in there somewhere… but I’m still not going to choose her lecture again next semester.”

 

“Yeah, we should register for the morning lecture this time,” Jongin agreed. “We can talk about that later though, after we eat and celebrate!!”

 

Jongin happily ordered the Chinese take out as Kyungsoo watched him endearingly, grateful that everything worked out grades-wise and that Jongin stood by him through it all. As the doorbell rang, their food had arrived, as well as the start of their summer, and possibly their forever together.

 

— — —

 

`Jongin: HYUNG!! I FORGOT TO ASK BEFORE I LEFT`

`Jongin: YOU CHOSE THE MONDAY/WEDNESDAY LECTURE FOR ORGO RIGHT?!`

`Jongin: KYUNGSOO!! ANSWER!!!`

`Jongin: KYUNGSOOOOOOOOOO`

`Jongin: KYUNGSOOOOOOOOOO`

`Jongin: KYUNGSOOOOOOOOOO`

`Jongin: KYUNGSOOOOOOOOOO`

`Jongin: KYUNGSOOOOOOOOOO`

`Jongin: K`

`Jongin: Y`

`Jongin: U`

`Jongin: N`

`Jongin: G`

`Jongin: S`

`Jongin: O`

`Jongin: O`

 

`Kyungsoo: … will i ever get a peaceful day from you`

 

`Jongin: ANSWER MY QUESTION`

 

`Kyungsoo: yes i chose the mon/wed lecture, and the tues lecture and recitation`

 

`Jongin: OK LIT THANKS HYUNG I LOVE YOU`

 

…  

 

`Kyungsoo: i love you too you dork`

  


**Deleted Scene:**

 

Jongin counted three rings before the phone picked up because he was too impatient to say his good news.

 

"What's up?"

 

"SEHUN!!!"

 

Jongin could hear his friend groan on the other end of the line. "Why are you yelling?"

 

"I'm so happy!!"

 

"Why are you happy?"

 

"I finally got the courage to ask Do Kyungsoo out!!!"

 

"What?! What happened?!"

 

"I didn't even need to approach him! He's the one that came to me! After lecture he dragged me to the second floor and yelled at me for always asking dumb questions in class. I acted like I’ve never seen him in my entire life before. I played it cool — I tried to make it seem like I wasn’t nervous or anything.”

 

“… Did you come off as an overconfident asshole?” Sehun deadpanned.

 

“…”

 

“That’s not how it works, you’re supposed to be yourself, Jongin.”

 

“Okay, okay, I forgot the plan about asking him to be my tutor and improvised. He was getting angry and I didn’t want to seem like a coward or anything. People don’t like cowards,” Jongin defended himself and Sehun could practically hear him pouting.

 

“Okay, so then?"

 

"Well, he said it was my fault that more than half the class failed and he called student athletes, like me, lazy and stupid—"

 

"Wait a minute, he sounds like a _jerk_ …? You like this guy? You sure you wanna go on a date with him?"

 

"NO, don't think of him that way! He was so nice at orientation!! He was probably just frustrated, so l didn't think too much of it."

 

"It was the way you got his attention, of course he’d be annoyed. I told you — it was such a bad idea."

 

"Well, Sehun, you should know that any kind of attention is good attention," Jongin retorted. “Look, he noticed me! He spoke to me and gave me the opportunity to ask him!”

 

"You noob, making yourself look like a dumbass for six lectures just for one date. I can't believe It really paid off... it better be worth it."

 

"Of course it will!! I've been thinking about him all summer," Jongin said dreamily. "He was so cute and nice to me when I had no idea what was going on during orientation..."

 

"I'm gonna throw up," Sehun said, making gagging noises that caused Jongin to frown. "But I'm happy for you."

 

"Thanks man," Jongin replied. "I have a question though."

 

"What is it?"

 

"If we go to one of your shifts, Kyungsoo can get a free cone too, right?"

 

"Ugh."

 

**Author's Note:**

> aaaaand das it!!! if you read up until the end, thank you so much for sticking around! i hope you liked it sjfkdjfkj the bigger message of this fic is that even if things look extremely bleak, keep trying your hardest, stick it through, don't be afraid to seek out and accept help from other people, it really will pay off in the end!! :) thank you to my recipient for coming up with this prompt and thank you to the kaisoomer mods for working so hard to make this exchange's round successful!


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